Eastern Bluebird
(Sialia sialis)

Overview

Summary

© Tony Battiste
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The Eastern Bluebird is an inhabitant of the open habitats of southern and eastern Canada, from central Saskatchewan to the Maritime provinces. Populations are well monitored by the Breeding Bird Survey, the results of which show a large increase since about 1970. Eastern Bluebird populations benefited from forest clearing during the European settlement period and may be more abundant today than they were historically (Gowaty and Plissner 2015).

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS): Relative Abundance and Breeding Distribution (1970-2016)
• Canadian Atlas of Bird Banding Maps
• BirdLife International / NatureServe
• Birds of North America Online

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation

General nesting period in Canada

Conservation and management

Competition with other cavity-nesting species, such as European Starling and House Sparrow, are likely related to reduced breeding success in some areas. However, nest box programs beginning in the 1960s have provided artificial breeding cavities and have reduced the negative effects of competition in some areas (Gowaty and Plissner 2015). This species is vulnerable to very cold weather. Population drops are known to occur in response to ice storms in its winter range and cold, snowy springs (Gowaty and Plissner 2015). The Eastern Bluebird is one of the species considered vulnerable to cat predation (Blancher 2013).

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Blancher, P. 2013. Estimated number of birds killed by house cats (Felis catus) in Canada. Avian Conservation and Ecology 8(2): 3. Blancher, P. 2013. Estimated number of birds killed by house cats (Felis catus) in Canada. Avian Conservation and Ecology 8(2): 3. (Link)
• Gowaty, P.A. and J.H. Plissner. 2015. Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis), The Birds of North America (P.G. Rodewald, ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA. Gowaty, P.A. and J.H. Plissner. 2015. Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis), The Birds of North America (P.G. Rodewald, ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA. (Link)