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By Bruce Jones
Special to the Rappahannock News
One of everyone’s favorite birds is the Eastern Bluebird. Poems and music have always included this happy, bright blue and orange bird.
In the 1800s and early 1900s, the Bluebird thrived. But the recent history of this native has not been as bright. In the late 1940s and 50s, the use of pesticides and insecticides, the replacement of wooden fence posts with steel ones, and the practice of removing dead trees all caused a major decline in this species.
On top of that, the population of the English Sparrow (House) and the European Starling exploded. Both of these non-native birds seek and occupy existing natural cavities; they compete with and win easily over Bluebirds in their nesting quest. Many naturalists and organizations in the 1970s noted this Bluebird population plunge.
One organization, the North American Bluebird Society, was born as a result of a timely article in National Geographic magazine featuring Bluebirds. “Save the Bluebirds” became a nationwide cry.
Since that time thousands of Bluebird boxes have been put up across North America, and the Bluebird population has begun to stabilize and flourish. A strong population of Bluebirds existed in our area until last winter’s elongated snow cover and ice storms.
Virginia and Maryland (and parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina and West Virginia) lost 60-75 percent of their total
96.8%