You know you’re a bluebirder when…

• You consider bluebirds the true harbingers of spring.  (Forget about robins!)
• The first egg of the year always brings a smile to your face.
• You watch the bluebird box instead of the boob tube.
• You can recognize ‘your’ bluebirds by their looks, song, or behavior. They come when you call.
• You tell houseguests “Yes, that’s a container of squirming mealworms in the refrigerator.  Why?  Is there something wrong with that?”
• The wallpaper on your cellphone/laptop/desktop computer is a bluebird photo (probably by David Kinneer.)
• You roll your eyes when people refer to Blue Jays as bluebirds.
• Your shelves/clothing/walls/car/mailbox/hat have bluebirds on them.  (Extra points for a bluebird tattoo.)
• You find the chirp of a House Sparrow worse than fingernails on a chalkboard.  You flinch when you hear it at Home Depot or on TV.
• Your shed is overflowing with boxes, poles and miscellaneous supplies (which you spent more money on than you care to admit.)  You always carry a bluebirding toolbox in your vehicle.
• You complain at those stores selling flimsy ‘craft’ nestboxes that cannot be opened for monitoring or cleaning.
• People refer to you as the Bluebird Lady or Bluebird Man.
• You can talk for hours about cavity nesters (to the dismay of your partner.)
• You engage in heated arguments about which style of nestbox is best.
• You cringe when driving by a tree-mounted birdhouse with a busted roof and squirrel-gnawed entrance hole.
• You stop at construction sites and ask to paw through their scrap wood piles.
• Your happy place is on the bluebird trail.
• Like a mad scientist, you constantly experiment with variations of baffles, heat shields, sparrow spookers, wren guards and other devices, in an effort to give your bluebirds their best chance at survival.
• You mourn the loss of each egg, baby, or adult.  You find you are simultaneously sad and relieved when nesting season ends.
• You anxiously await your quarterly copy of the NABS Bluebird journal, and read it cover to cover.

Compiled by Bet Zimmerman Smith with wonderful contributions by fellow Facebooking bluebirders.

ALSO SEE:

• Why we get goopy over bluebirds
• Managing House Sparrows
• Nestbox styles – pros and cons
• Raising Mealworms
• Feeding Mealworms
• North American Bluebird Society (NABS) | NABS Facebook Page
• Bluebird-L Facebook Page
• Predator Guards (Baffles)
• Sparrow Spookers
• Heat/Cold
• Wren Guards
• The downside of bluebirding