8 Types of Blue Birds in Georgia

Last Updated on March 22, 2023 by Lily Aldrin

Georgia is home to a diverse range of bird species, including several types of blue birds.

These beautiful birds can be found in a variety of habitats, from forests and gardens to wetlands and coastal areas.

In this article, we will explore 8 different types of blue birds that can be found in the state of Georgia.

We will look at their physical characteristics, behaviors, and habitats,

Image	Name
	Blue Jay
	Blue Grosbeak
	Little Blue Heron
	Purple Martin
	Belted King Fisher
	Painted Bunting
	Purple Gallinule
	Tree Swallow

Types of Blue Birds in Georgia

1. Blue Jay

In eastern backyards and pine logs, the Blue Jay is one of the noisiest and most colorful birds.

It is fast to exploit bird feeders and is intelligent and adaptive, allowing it to eat nearly everything.

Blue Jays can imitate the cry of a Rufous Hawk with astonishing accuracy in addition to their loud jay! Cries and other melodic noises. 

They don’t always make a big deal out of it, and whether they’re taking care of their nest or trying to plunder the eggs of another bird, they sneak stealthily through the woods.

Food

Forages on the ground, in bushes and trees, etc. Visits feeders in search of seeds or suet. Uses a bill to pound on tough nuts or seeds to crack them open. Will gather acorns and put them in ground-level holes for storage. 

For the nestlings, both parents deliver food. 17 – 21 days after hatching, the young depart the nest.

Omnivorous. Acorns and other nuts, several varieties of seeds, grains, berries, tiny fruits, and occasionally cultivated fruits make up the majority of the diet.

Eats a variety of insects, mainly grasshoppers, caterpillars, and beetles. 

It also consumes spiders, worms, birds’ eggs, tiny rats, amphibians, baby birds, carrion, and other objects.

Aerial pursuits and feeding of the female during courtship are both possible.

When a predator approaches the nest, Blue Jays become stealthy and inconspicuous around it yet will attack with shrill cries. 

Nest

The location of the nest in a tree is normally 8 to 30 feet above the ground but can also be 5 to 50 feet up at the horizontal fork in a limb far from the trunk or in the tree’s vertical crotch.

A nest is an overstuffed open cup consisting of sticks, grass, weeds, strips of bark, and moss.

2. Blue Grosbeak

In the southern states, thickets and hedgerows are frequently the scenes of the Blue Grosbeak’s husky warbling song in the summer.

The bird frequently hides in the underbrush, but it also occasionally sits up in the sky, behaving nervously while flicking and extending its tail like an oversized Indigo Bunting. 

Habitat & Food

Blue Grosbeaks may congregate in flocks to forage in wide, weedy fields during migration and in the tropical winter. Mostly forages on the ground and in low vegetation.

Picks up objects from the ground and from plants. It will hover while removing insects from foliage and will take brief flights to gather insects in midair.

Forages in flocks most of the time, except during breeding.

The female primarily feeds the nestlings. After hatching, the young depart the nest after 9 – 10 days. After the young fledge, the Male could feed them more, at least if the female is beginning a second nest.

Mostly seeds and insects. Eats a variety of insects, especially in the summer, including snails, spiders, beetles, grasshoppers, and caterpillars. It also consumes cicadas and praying mantises.

Eats a variety of seeds, including weed and grass seeds, as well as grain waste seeds. Males sing to protect their nesting areas.

In some regions, nesting activity may continue far into the summer. 

Nest

Located low in bushes, trees, or vines, often 3–10 feet above the surface, but infrequently up to 25 feet high.

The nest is a small, open cup made of sticks, weeds, rootlets, leaves, and strips of bark. Occasionally, unusual things like bits of paper, rope, or rags are added. Fine grass, rootlets, and animal hair line the nest.

3. Little Blue Heron

The Little Blue Heron, while having a different last name, is presumably a close cousin of the Snowy Egret.

When young, it resembles a Snowy, but as it gets older, it molts into a dark slate-blue color. Generally cautious and difficult to approach, Little Blues often nest on the borders of big mixed heronries, while they can nest alone in colonies. 

Its greatest colonies may be located in the lower Mississippi River basin, where it frequently breeds alongside Cattle Egrets.

Usually meticulous and deliberate in its foraging, it moves slowly through shallow water or remains still while it waits for a meal to approach.

May forage in grassy areas, on the coast, or in shallow water.

By regurgitating, both parents nourish their children. After two to three weeks, the young can crawl out of the nest onto neighboring branches; after four weeks, they can fly briefly, and after seven weeks, they are fully independent.

Food

Mostly crabs and fish. Their diet is pretty erratic. Mostly eats crabs and other crustaceans, such as tiny fish. Eats a lot of crickets and other insects away from water. Larvae, frogs, lizards, reptiles, turtles, and spiders are examples of other foods.

Reproduces in colonies. Male drives other males away by claiming a small area of the colony and performing displays there.

Males exhibit behaviors like neck stretching and bill snapping; during courting, couples may also cross and entangle their necks. 

Nest

The nest’s location is typically 3 – 15 feet above ground level or water but can occasionally reach heights of 40 feet.

A platform of sticks ranging in strength from fragile to substantial, with a depression in the center, is what both sexes use to build their nests.

4. Purple Martin

This large swallow is among our most well-liked birds because of its graceful flying and wonderful pre-dawn chirping.

In the east, nearly all Purple Martins now lay their eggs in birdhouses built specifically for them. Martin’s dwelling has a long history. 

To attract these birds, certain Native American cultures supposedly placed hollow gourds about their settlements.

Thousands of Purple Martins may congregate to roost in late July before migrating to South and Central America for the winter. 

Food

Virtually exclusively uses the air to forage. May forage extremely high or quite low over the water. Occasionally roams the ground collecting insects, maybe primarily in adverse weather.

Nestlings are fed by both parents. After hatching, the young depart the nest 26–31 days later.

Feeds on a wide range of flies, including several wasps, winged ants, and certain bees, as well as numerous true bugs, fly bugs, moths, and butterflies.

Including dragonflies in the diet might be beneficial. Consumes several spiders as well. It would appear that the fabled assertion that martins consume “350 mosquitoes a day” is unfounded.

Nest

In the spring, males are the first to return to breeding grounds and create territories.

Typically builds nests in colonies, particularly in the east, where virtually all are in carefully constructed, multi-roomed nest boxes. Western martins can build their nests in lone pairs or in looser colonies. 

Males occasionally have multiple partners. Natural locations for nesting are in tree cavities, primarily former woodpecker burrows.

Most Purple martins now use nest boxes in the east.

Nests sporadically in cracks of rocks or structures. A bowl of leaves, hay, twigs, detritus, and typically mud makes up a nest.

To prevent eggs from rolling out, the front of the nest may have a raised soil rim.

5. Belted King Fisher

When a Belted Kingfisher is flying over rivers or lakes, its erratic rattling cry is frequently what draws people’s attention.

It could be observed sitting on a high branch or circling on fast-beating wings before diving into the water and snatching a fish. 

It is the sole member of its genus to be observed in the majority of regions north of Mexico and is present virtually all year round in North America.

Forages by diving headfirst into the water and using its beak to catch fish just below the surface. 

Watches for fish when perched on a twig, rope, rock, or another object above the water, or it may float above it before diving.

Pellets of the prey’s vertebrae, scales, and other inedible portions are afterward coughed up.

Both parents feed the young, initially feeding them food that hasn’t been fully digested and then entire fish.

Males may visit the feeding area more frequently than females.

27 – 29 days after hatching, the young leave the nest. They are fed by the parents for another 3 – 4 weeks. One brood annually, perhaps 2 in the South.

Food

Mostly consumes little fish, often ones that are smaller than 4 – 5″ long. Consumes water insects, frog tadpoles, crayfish, and frogs.

Occasionally removes prey from the water, including lizards, juvenile birds, and small animals. Rumored to occasionally consume berries.

The Male presents fish to the female during a courting show and feeds her.

The location of the nest is generally in a vertical or steep soil bank that has more sand than clay.

A lengthy horizontal tunnel with a nest chamber at the end is dug by both sexes. 

Typically 3 – 6′ in length, with an uphill slope from the entrance. Nesting in tree cavities is uncommon. No lining is typically put to the nest chamber, although trash and uneaten salmon vertebrae and scales may do so.

6. Painted Bunting

Sometimes referred to as “Nonpareil,” which means “unrivaled,” this bird’s incredible hues are well described. In the Southeast, this species is widespread in the brushy regions and forest borders.

It frequently maintains a low profile amid thick cover. Males, on the other hand, sing their vivid warbling songs higher up in the trees, either on exposed perches in the sun or partially concealed by vegetation. 

In winter, Painted Buntings visit the bird feeders of a few fortunate Floridians. Mostly forages on the ground. Performs little foraging up in low trees and shrubs as well. Hay in blended flocks with Indigo Buntings during migration is possible.

Food

Mostly insects and seeds. Reportedly eats fruits and berries occasionally but mostly feeds on seeds, especially weed and grass seeds.

Eats a wide variety of insects as well, including flies, grasshoppers, beetles, and caterpillars.

In the early summer, it probably consumes more insects, feeding them to its offspring.

Males sing to defend their territory from elevated vantage points, sometimes partially obscured by vegetation near treetops.

Males will also get into dangerous, violent altercations, probably for territorial issues. 

Males are allowed to have many partners.

Nest: Usually 3 – 9 feet above the ground, but occasionally higher, nests are built in dense shrubs, tendrils, or low in trees.

Grass, weeds, and leaves are used to weave the outside of the nest, which is lined with fine foliage, cotyledons, and animal hair.

7. Purple Gallinule

This gallinule is a large, vibrantly colored, and conspicuously loud bird.

It clambers over marshes and trees beside the river while anxiously flickering its short tail as it moves around on broad shorelines with its powerful legs and large toes.

Nods its head while swimming and flies briefly with its legs prominently hanging.

Mostly found in the Southeastern and the Tropics, although at any time of year, lone birds will occasionally go very far north.

Forages while swimming, hiking through marsh vegetation, or climbing up trees or bushes beside the water. Possibly moves to the second nest soon after leaving the first nest. 

Parents are frequently helped by other birds when feeding their young; these “helpers” are all obviously past children of the breeding couple, and youngsters less than ten days may assist in feeding freshly born chicks.

A little child can fly when they are about nine weeks old. Omnivorous. Consumes a wide range of plant and animal material, such as insects, amphibians, snails, spiders, worms, and fish, as well as the seeds, fruits, and leaves of both aquatic and terrestrial plants.

Eats other birds’ eggs and young ones on occasion.

Most breeding behavior research has been done in Costa Rica.

Breeding occurs exclusively in the spring and early summer in North America but at any time in the tropics.

The nest is frequently located above several-foot-deep water in a thick marshy area. 

The nest is a platform made of cattails, grasses, and sedges that is 1 – 3 feet above the water level or firmly fixed to marsh vegetation.

Build additional nests frequently.

8. Tree Swallow

The Tree Swallow, which also builds its nests in holes that are precisely the same size as bluebird houses and has colonized most of North America, has benefited from the bluebird’s fame.

The swallows must fight with other cavity-nesting birds, who arrive early in the spring to stake up territories in areas where there is not such a sufficient supply of artificial nest sites. 

Food

Tree Swallows consume a lot of berries, unlike other swallows, which helps them endure cold times when other insect-eating birds could starve.

Most of the time, foraging is done while flying low over fields or water. 

During the flight, one may pick up objects from the water’s surface. Occasionally eats on the soil, especially in cold weather, and perches on bushes to consume berries.

Nestlings are fed by both parents, and the female raises them while they are young. After hatching, the young often depart the nest 18 to 22 days later.

Mostly bugs, a few fruits. Insects dominate the Diet, particularly in the summer. Feeds on many beetles, ants with wings, and other insects.

Additionally, it will consume sand fleas and certain spiders.

With the exception of our other swallows, it consumes a lot of plant matter.

The primary food source for bayberries, along with other berries and seeds, is the plant.

Nest

The Male enters the nesting area before the female; during mating, the Male shows the female prospective nesting locations.

Each year, birds frequently pick new partners.

Natural nesting locations include holes in dead trees or ancient sapsucker holes in living trees; nest boxes are also regularly used.

Occasionally in strange places, like cracks in structures.

Conclusion

If you love birds and like bird watching, you must visit this location.

There are many simple methods to experience wildlife regions and different birding locations with walking trails, sightseeing tours, and much more because of its national wildlife refuges, which safeguard varied ecosystems from forests to wetlands.

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