Exploring the Vibrant World of Blue Birds: A Kaleidoscope of Color

The animal kingdom gives us rainbows of color with butterflies, chameleons, and clownfish, but birds give us just as much of a show. With birds like the peacock, toucan, and macaw, the avian family displays a kaleidoscope of color. And then there are the blue birds, the ones that are supposed to bestow happiness wherever they go. While blue birds may not actually be harbingers of happiness, birds of this hue do present a beautiful spectacle. Continue reading to discover six different types of birds that are blue.

1. The Eastern Bluebird

If this is the bird that popped into your head first when you thought about a blue bird, you’d be among the many who might think this is the only blue in the azure sky. The Eastern bluebird is the most prevalent of the three bluebird species: Eastern (Sialia sialis), Western (Sialia mexicana), and Mountain (Sialia currucoides). Bluebirds, members of the thrush family, tweet a melodic song. Males are mostly blue while the females are a dull, bluish-gray with varying hues of blue on the wings and tail.

Insects are the bluebird’s preferred cuisine for much of the year. Beetles, caterpillars, crickets, grasshoppers, mealworms, and spiders are favorites. In the fall, the bluebird diet consists of fruit, including blueberries, hackberries, and honeysuckle. Bluebirds can be found along field edges, golf courses, parks, backyards, sparse woods, and other open areas.

2. Indigo Bunting

The indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea) migrates at night using the stars to navigate. These brilliantly colored birds are found throughout North America, from southern Canada to coastal Mexico. Singing from high in the treetops or along telephone lines, males are a deep, vibrant blue all over in the summer and have shiny silver-gray bills. Their color changes to brown during the winter, while females are brown year-round.

The indigo bunting eats insects and spiders during the summer months and seeds and berries during the winter. They forage for food on the ground or in trees or shrubs, and adore nothing more than grass seed. The indigo bunting’s preferred habitat is brushy areas, grasslands, shrubs, forest edges, and hedgerows. Females are often overlooked because they lack the males’ flashy coloration.

3. Blue Grosbeak

Thickets and overgrown fields are the preferred habitats of the blue grosbeak (Passerina caerulea), a North American songbird, recognized for its rich, warbling songs, particularly during breeding season. Named for their large beaks and striking blue color, blue grosbeaks prefer to be close to water.

Male blue grosbeaks have bright blue bodies with rusty accents, while the females are a light brown. Their diet consists of insects and seeds. Blue grosbeaks eat lots of bugs during the summer, including beetles, caterpillars, cicadas, grasshoppers, and praying mantises, spiders, and snails.

4. Blue Jay

Blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) live in forests in the forks of trees up to 20 feet high. Blue jays are recognizable by their blue, black, and white feathers. Unlike most blue birds, which exhibit sexual dichromatism, male and female blue jays share the same bright colors.

This North American flyer ranges throughout North America and is capable of mimicking a variety of birds as well as human speech. Blue jays are known as an aggressive breed, especially during mating season.

5. Steller’s Jay

The Steller’s jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) is a forest dwelling bird that ranges along the North American West Coast. The Western jays are monomorphic, meaning that the plumage of female and male Steller’s jays is indistinguishable, sharing the same rich hues. Steller’s jays’ bodies are a vivid blue, while their heads are solid black.

Steller’s jays are aggressive nest-robbers that will attack larger birds of prey. They are a very territorial breed that will attack other jays. They become particularly vocal and combative during nesting season.

6. Tree Swallow

The tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) is an incredibly beautiful metallic-blue bird that can be seen perched on fences, skimming over water surfaces, or snacking on insects. Their preferred habitats include grassy fields, lakes, and marshes. Males are a bright, iridescent blue-green with blackish wings and tail and white underparts, while females are a dull brown with little to no iridescence.

Although they eat a variety of seeds and berries, their berry of choice is the bayberry. In summer, they eat insects, including flies (about 40% of their diet), beetles, and winged ants. Tree swallow nests, built by the female, consist of grass, weeds, moss, and pine needles, often lined with the feathers of other birds.