Bluebird

Description

The Bluebird is a small thrush whose feathers are bright blue on head, back, and wings, with a reddish brown throat and breast. The coloration of females is slightly duller than that of the male, with more grey along the cap and back.

Habitat & Range

Bluebirds are found across the Blessed Isle and the River Province . They prefer open woodlands, farmlands and orchards, though some will venture into settlements which have sufficient greenery and garden plots.

Diet

Approximately two-thirds of the diet of a bluebird consists of insects and other invertebrates. The remainder of the bird's diet is made up of fruits. This is something of a mixed blessing for orchardkeepers, who often grumble at the ‘bluebird tithe’, the fruit given over to the birds’ beaks in exchange for their services devouring insects that would ruin fruit harvests. Bluebirds feed by perching on a high point , such as a branch or fence post, and swooping down to catch insects on or near the ground.

Behaviour

Bluebirds are very social birds. At times, particularly in the colder months around Descending Air, they gather in flocks of a hundred or more. However, they are territorial during the breeding season, often trying to chase each other away from prized nesting sites.

Some have noted the marked gender roles seen in most bluebirds. When approached by a predator (most often cats or raptors), male bluebirds make a song-like warning cry. If a male is not present, a female will begin to sing an entirely different tune, a variation on a mating call, hoping to attract a protective male back to the territory.

Reproduction

Mating occurs in the Wood and Fire seasons. A mature female will typically raise two broods a year, one per season. Nests are constructed in trees within abandoned woodpecker holes or other cavities that provide adequate protection (usually several feet above ground). These nests are small, cup-like structures that are lined with grass, feathers, stems, and hairs. Each female lays a half-dozen eggs, which are incubated for two weeks, and the young are cared for until ready to leave the next, about a month after hatching. Bluebirds waste little time starting broods of their own: the newborns of a year’s Wood season will be nesting and raising their own chicks by the Fire season.

Cultural Significance

The imagery of a bluebird was common in the Shogunate for stories featuring a ‘damsel in distress’, with a male hero clad in bluebird-decorated robes to mark that he was leaping forth in response to cries for aid from his beloved. This imagery has fallen into disuse in the Scarlet Empire, though it continues to feature in the occasional ‘bluebird tale’, propagandistic works coming out of Lookshy, where a 7th Legion officer is placed as hero jumping to save a helpless maiden (originating in another nation of the Confederation of Rivers) from some dark and terrible evil.

Bluebirds have long been associated with the month of Descending Air within the field of Dynastic Fashions.