My early spring bird sightings at my feeder have made me very HAPPY. When I open my door in the early morning to let my dogs out, I am amazed at the morning orchestra I hear...loud and filled with a symphonic variety bird sounds. This year I have had all the traditional birds at my feeder and I have a lovely new visitor...the Eastern Bluebird. What a thrill!

In this area we have only three blue-colored birds, the bluejay (very common), the indigo bunting (usually not in backyards), and the bluebird (also uncommon in urban yards). This year there has been a plethora of sightings of bluebirds in the area all around Broad Ripple. You will see Jeff's photos of this bird and see that you rarely observe them in your backyards. These wonderful Eastern Bluebirds usually live in open fields with ample cavities to dwell in. City life is not for them where trees and the hustle and bustle discourage their nesting and feeding. Just a note: the sparrows in your yard usually deter any bluebird's idea of nesting.

Bluebirds have wonderful organizations and sites for birdwatchers to network. Check out https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern by Cornell to learn more about this bird -- characteristics, nesting, habitat, nesting boxes, and food. They even have their own association, The North American Bluebird Society (http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org) where people support education, conservation and research that promotes the recovery of bluebirds and other native cavity-nesting bird species in North America.

Bluebirds have always signified happiness. Whether you see little glass bluebirds at the truck stop store, or you research different cultures and how they have used the symbol of the bluebird. . . hope and happiness are connected to this beautiful, blue-feathered bird with a rosy orange breast.

Can you answer these questions about bluebirds:
1. The name of the song in the musical "Anything Goes"
2. What they are doing in "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"?
3. Where they are in Disney's "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," of Song of the South?
4. Where they flew over Dover during WW2?
5. What Beatles 1973 album had a song about Bluebirds?
6. What two video games include reference to Bluebirds?

When bluebirds appear in my area, my neighbors activate a phone call to tell each other what we have seen at our feeders. It is truly unusual. Although they are eating peanuts at my feeder, they love mealworms and shelled sunflower. Dried mealworms are the easiest way to entice the bluebirds to your feeder if you have seen them in your yard. I hope you are lucky and can see a bluebird this year. Their distinct blue and orange coloring truly evokes happiness for the observer.

Answers:
1. "Be Like the Bluebird"
2. Bluebirds fly
3. Mr. Bluebird on my shoulder
4. White Cliffs
5. Band on the Run
6. Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward, and Red Dead Redemption 2.