FAMILY: Medium-sized member of thrush family.

COLORS: Adults blue on heads, backs and tails; female's blue is suffused by gray-brown. Rusty breasts and flanks offset by white bellies.

VOICE: Musical turee or queedle when flying overhead. Song is soft, melodious warble.

HABITAT: Fields and grassy roadsides. In summer, bluebirds perch on wires, fences and in tops of trees. Will take up in nest boxes offered in suburban areas, parks and on golf courses. Tolerate prescence of humans if nests are not disturbed. Virginia Cooperative Extension offers free instructions on how to build nesting boxes. Local wildlife stores and garden centers that sell bird supplies offer informational booklets on bluebirds and other birds and ready-made nesting boxes for bluebirds.

RANGE: East of Rockies from southern Canada to Gulf of Mexico and as far as mountains of central Mexico.

FOOD: Prefer insects but shift to fruit in cold weather. Also likes mealworms and special bluebird foods offered at wildlife stores.

HELPFUL PLANTS: Thickets such as blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, rugosa roses and wild grape provide food and shelter. Other plants that give them food sources include: Eastern red cedar, loblolly pine, flowering dogwood, red and white mulberry, American holly, Carolina laurel, serviceberry, autumn olive, winterberry, honeysuckle and viburnums.

HEAR THE BIRD: Sounds of the eastern bluebird can be heard through early October by calling the bird information line sponsored by Bird Watcher's Digest, (614) 373-2181.