It was August 16th, 2004, a dry hot and sunny day. I was working as a farmhand in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. On that particular day I was driving a tractor down an old dusty dirt lane running between two pastures used for grazing beef cattle. The tractor was an Allis Chalmers WD model produced some time in the 1940-50’s. There was no cab on the tractor so I had a nice open, elevated view of my surroundings. That’s when I saw her, flitting from tree-to-tree, keeping ahead of me down the lane as I slowly motored closer to her. It was a female eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) and she was my lifer, my first eastern bluebird. I’ll never forget her. Not long after that sighting I began erecting bluebird houses in my yard, at four different houses over the course of 16 years and every spring without fail I’ve had bluebirds nest on my property. I have become intimately familiar with this species over the years and have experienced extreme joy in watching their populations recover, thanks in very small part to my own efforts to provide nesting sites for these splendid birds.
The eastern bluebird is one of three species in the Sialia genus and part of the thrush family Turdidae, along with other familiar species like the American robin of North America, and the common blackbird of Eurasia. The eastern bluebird ranges across North America east and south of the Rocky Mountains and is divided up into seven sub-species. Since I previously reviewed the wild turkey by Wild Republic I figured I would review a few more of these plush birds, part of the Audubon Birds line.
The Audubon Birds by Wild Republic are a line of plush North American birds that emit authentic bird sounds recorded by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. In this case the toy makes the song that unpaired males produce; females sing it too but rarely. The bright colors indicate that this toy is a male. Males and females are colored similarly but the color on the females is much more subdued. For sexually dimorphic species Wild Republic only makes male birds, unfortunate but not at all surprising.
The toy is made of printed fabric and bright blue on the face, nape, and down the back. The chest is pale red and gently fades to white on the underside. The beak is black. Some individual feathers can be seen on the tail and wings, highlighted in darker blue. Like most of the Audubon birds this bird has no legs or feet.
The eastern bluebird prefers to live in open woodlands and fields where they feed on invertebrates as well as berries, when available. Because of their habitat preferences the eastern bluebird actually does well in human altered environments, orchards and pastures in particular but also backyard gardens, golf courses, etc.
Unfortunately bluebirds were seriously impacted by DDT and other pesticides. Competition for nesting sites with the aggressive and invasive European starlings and house sparrows didn’t do their numbers any favors either. Today the eastern bluebird is experiencing a comeback; do in large part to bluebird houses being erected specifically for the species. Currently their population is considered stable.
The Wild Republic eastern bluebird is a cute, brightly colored, and attractive toy, fun for adults and children alike. Because the sound mechanism is sewed into the bird the batteries cannot be easily replaced which is a serious bummer. But even after the batteries run out you’ll still be left with a nice plush of this iconic species. The Audubon Birds are widely available in a range of gift shops, particularly in garden stores and nature centers and the like. You can also get them online for under $15 USD. Like so many songbird species the eastern bluebird is not readily available in plastic so for bird aficionados these Audubon Birds will have to suffice.
Now, for a tube-sized plastic one, please 😀
We need a few more songbird toobs from Safari. And I need to get around to reviewing the one that already exists. Soon, I can feel it.