Bluebirds — Flocks, Party, or Tidings?

I smiled. Bluebirds splashed in delight.

Among the trees and gardens of our two-acre homesite, nature provides daily lessons on the survival of the fittest, squatters’ rights, and how wildlife play. We have a Bluebird house in the back, but the Sparrows moved in while Mockingbirds harass both as intruders in their territory.

We occasionally see a few Bluebirds. But since they weren’t nesting in the bluebird box, we assumed we were a food stop on their way to another home. Until the day my son called excitedly, “Mom, you have to see this!”

Bluebirds flitted in and around the small puddle left by the lawn sprinklers. Taking refuge from the heat, the shimmering winged birds had found a place to bathe, splash, and play.

I grabbed my camera and hid behind the bushes to catch them in the act. As soon as they sensed my presence, a whir of wings and warnings broke the spell.

I didn’t realize that there were more than the few birds in the water. We had an entire community that called our trees home.

Since then, I hear them every morning singing to one another in the oak trees, welcoming the morning. They splash in any puddle they find, offered by man or nature.

That’s when I wondered, what do you call a group of Bluebirds?

A flock.

It is a happy talent to know how to play.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson