What Kind of Foods Do Bluebirds Eat?

Video Transcript

"Hi. My name is Andy Wood. I'm education director for Audubon North Carolina and I'm here to talk about what foods do bluebirds eat. Bluebirds are members of the thrush family. They are an insect eating bird and in North America we have three different kinds. The eastern, western and mountain. All three of them have a preference for insects. But especially the mountain bluebird. 90% of the diet of a mountain bluebird is going to be insects including some kind of stinky things. They'll eat stink bugs. They'll also eat wasps and bees in addition to caterpillars and grasshoppers and crickets. The other two, the western and the eastern bluebird, about three quarters of their diet, 70% or so, is going to be insect. Including beetles, crickets, caterpillars, moths, things like that. In the winter time when insects are in short supply the bluebirds diet will switch over to fruits and berries. Things like hollies or dogwood berries especially. But sumac and hackberry and Virginia creeper berries, even poison ivy berries will be eaten by bluebirds. The bluebirds are a benefit to farmers. Which is why when you're going through farm land you'll see bluebirds along the fence rows. They're attractive to have on a farm but they also benefit the farmer by eating destructive insects. So bluebirds are our friend because they eat insects that otherwise would eat our food. And that's the diet of the bluebird."