Note: I am still trying to verify and sort some of this out, so don’t consider it gospel (or anything else you find on the Internet that isn’t peer-reviewed or from an official agency!)
Audubon paintings, Other Common Names, Name in French, Name in Spanish, Scientific Name, Former Scientific Name Appearing in Literature, Described by, Alpha Code, ITIS Taxonomic Serial No., Subspecies, Distinguishing Characteristics (Male), Distinguishing Characteristics (Female), Differences between Species (Characteristics), Size, Range, Interbreeding, Recommended distance between nestboxes, Nests, Incubation, Fledging, State Bird, Postal Stamps, Classification and Notes.
Common Name |
Eastern Bluebird |
Mountain Bluebird |
Western Bluebird |
| Audubon Plate (John James Audubon, The Birds of America, 1840) |
 |
 |
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| Other Common Names |
SUBSPECIES:
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SUBSPECIES:
|
| Name in French |
merlebleu de l’est
|
merlebleu azuré
|
merlebleu de l’ouest
|
| Name in Spanish |
Azulejo garganta canela |
Azulejo pálido
|
Azulejo garganta azul
|
| Scientific Name |
Sialia sialis
|
Sialia currucoides
|
Sialia mexicana
|
| Former Scientific Names Appearing in Literature? |
Sialia sialis sialis Motacilla sialis (Linnaeus 1758) |
Sialia arctica? (Audubon) |
Sylvia mexicana occidentalis (Townsend)? |
| Described by |
Linnaeus, 1758 |
Bechstein, 1798
|
Swainson, 1832
|
| Alpha Code | EABL | MOBL | WEBL |
| Taxonomic Serial No. |
179801
|
179811
|
179806
|
| Subspecies (distinguished by coloration and range) – name is preceded by Genus and Species (e.g., Sialia sialis grata). For description see (NABS) Bluebird, Winter 2003, Vol.25, No.1 |
|
No subspecies recognized.
|
|
| Distinguishing Characteristics (Adult Male) |
Red-brown throat and white belly
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Pale sky- blue breast and flanks. Lacks distinct red coloration but may show a trace of rufous on throat and breast. Straighter posture/
|
Bright purplish-cobalt-blue on head, chin, throat, and tail. Brown breast and a gray-blue belly.
|
| Distinguishing Characteristics (Adult Female) |
Orange-brown throat and white belly with pale brown outline
|
Pale sky-blue. Pale chin? Grayer back? Ashy gray belly, may have rufous wash on breast.
|
Tend to have a brown abdomen and gray head, throat and back. Tails and wings gray-blue color. |
| Differences between Species (Sibley and others) | Like Western but smaller overall and slightly thicker-billed | Slimmer, especially longer-winged and tailed, thinner bill with little or no yellow at base. Males and females paler blue. | Stocky with rather short tail and wings, stout bill, large head. Darker underwing coverts than Eastern. Less vocal than EABL. |
| Size (Sibley) | Length 7″, Wingspan 13″, WT 1.1 oz | Length 7.25″, Wingspan 14″, WT 1 oz | Length 7″, Wingspan 13.5″, WT 1 oz. |
| Range |
East of the Rocky Mountains, spanning from southern Canada to the Gulf states and on into Mexico and Honduras. Populations are found in Cuba, although it is not a native species there. (Terres, 1980)
|
Nests in the foothills and mountains of western North America, from east-central Alaska, east to southwestern Manitoba and the Dakotas, south to southern California, northern Arizona, and southern New Mexico. May winter as far south as Mexico, or as far north as British Columbia. |
Throughout parts of western North America, including southeastern British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, northern Baja California, and the central Mexican states. (Guinan, Gowaty, and Eltzroth, 2000)
|
| Inter-breeding (rare in wild) | Interbreeds with Mountain | Hybridizes with both Eastern (Lane 1969, Rounds and Munro 1982, Steblay 1986) and Western (Aylesworth 1987) | Considered extremely rare although overlap exists with MOBL in part of range |
| Other Differences | Male may be more aggressive defending nest. Most migratory. Eggs are paler blue. Establish territories later than WEBL in areas where ranges overlap | Least migratory. Do not prefer large open meadows. Establish territories earlier than MOBL. | |
| Recommended distance between nestboxes |
100 yards minimum
|
200-300 yards
|
100 yards. 200-300 yards may be better
|
| Nestbox Hole Size | 1.5″ round minimum | 1 9/16″ round minimum | 1.5″ round minimum |
| Nests | Seldom (or just a few) feathers, nest usually of grass and pine needles | May use twigs, rootlets, bark, and, sometimes, wool, hair, or feathers | May use feathers and trash, hair, thin bark, leaves in nest cup |
| Incubation | 12-18 days | 13-15 days | 13-14 days |
| Song | Pleasing musical series of mellow whistles, sings frequently. Also a chatter. | Series of low, burry whistles. Quieter than EABL? Male warbles at dawn, also sings in flight. | Sings infrequently, mainly at dawn; simple series of call notes. |
| Fledging | 12-19 days | 17-22 days +/- | 18-24 days +/- Average 21.8 |
| State Bird |
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| Postal Stamps (year issued) |
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Has never appeared on a U.S. stamp. |
- Sialia is pronounced: sy-AL-lay-uh
- Sialia (the genus) should always be capitalized
- “Sialia” comes from the Greek word sialis which simply means “a bird,” according to bluebirder Fred Loane.
- Swainson described the genus Sialia in 1827.
- Classification: Kingdom: Animalia (animals), Phylum: Chordata (chordates), Subphylum: Vertebrata (vertebrates), Class: Aves (Birds),
- Order: Passeriformes (Perching Birds – of which there are 96 families, 1218 genera and 5753 species according to Ornithology by Frank Gill, 3rd ed.)
- Family: per American Ornithologists Union: Turdidae (Thrushes and Allies). The ITIS lists bluebirds as being in the Family Muscicapidae (Old World Flycatchers) per the Sibley-Monroe list.
- Subfamily: Turdinae (Thrushes) is a subfamily of Muscicapidae in the Sibley-Monroe list (second paragraph).
- Genus: Sialia (a kind of bird), Species (3), Subspecies (14 or 15 depending on whose list you use).
- ITIS is Integrated Taxonomic Information System, which issues Taxonomic Serial Numbers.
- The American Ornithologists Union determines species splits or lumps, name changes and bird alpha codes in the U.S. The USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center also maintains a list of bird alpha codes.
- Subspecies information from (NABS) Bluebird, Winter 2003, Vol.25, No.1
- A.R. Phillips recognized 6 subspecies of the Western Bluebird in his 1991 paper, The Known Birds of North and Middle America, Part II
- J.D. Webster, Middle American Races of the Eastern Bluebird, The Auk 90: 579-590.
- Some information from USDA Forest Service
- David Allen Sibley, The Sibley Guide to Birds, November 2001
- Native american names for bluebirds include: Chimalis or Chimalus, Chosovi (Hopi) – source: Spotted Wolf’s Corner, Native American Names; Chimalus version from Indian Popular Names, from the Library of the University of California, L.A., E98 N2U5)
- On this website, also see:
- range maps and description of ranges for each species.
- history of bluebirds and bluebirding
- All about (Breeding Biology): Eastern Bluebird | Mountain Bluebird | Western Bluebird
- Photos of nests, eggs and young: Eastern Bluebird | Mountain Bluebird | Western Bluebird
The bluebird is well named, for he wears a coat of the purest, richest, and most gorgeous blue on back, wings, and tail; no North American bird better deserves the name, for no other flashes before our admiring eyes so much brilliant blue.
– Arthur C. Bent, 1949
