Eastern Bluebirds at Lord Stirling Park

As I stood on the west observation tower at Lord Stirling Park yesterday morning, I was surrounded by birds – White-throated and Song Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and White-breasted Nuthatches, among others. The ones that really caught my attention were a few Eastern Bluebirds that alternated between foraging in the field and perching in the trees and shrubs near the tower. The male above was perched in front of a bat box.

One of the trees had a limb broken off with a deep groove in what was left of it. I think that water must have collected inside the groove because the bluebirds kept disappearing into the groove and coming back out after a pause long enough to take a drink.