Place them out of reach of cats and dogs. Light materials such as dogs hair, moss, cotton balls, yarn, and string can be placed in the baskets, and birds will use them throughout the breeding season. Tenants For Your Bird Houses Bluebirds. Eastern bluebirds are one of Alabama's most beautiful year-round residents. The adult males are brilliant blue above and reddish or rust below with a white underbelly.
Females are drab versions of the males .
Populations of these birds have grown rapidly over the past few years, mostly in response to people constructing and placing nest boxes. Bluebird Trails where boxes are placed along paths through good bluebird habitat have been established in many states. This partially compensates for the loss of preferred nesting sites such as wooden fence posts and cavity trees. Before bluebird boxes were erected in great numbers, starlings and house sparrows reduced the bluebird population by competing for and winning available nesting sites. Bluebirds usually nest along woodland edges of open fields or other open areas.