One spring day when the ground is a carpet of green, a pair of bluebirds arrives at their summer home. Inside their nest box the female weaves layers of coarse grass into a circle. Then she presses her body into the middle to make a cup.

A season in the life of a bluebird family

In a cozy nest of grass a female bluebird lays her eggs, blue as the summer sky. When they hatch, there are four tiny chicks to feed. From morning to night, the parent birds hunt for tasty insects to give to their hungry brood.
The chicks grow quickly, and within a few weeks they have enough feathers to learn to fly. At first their wings are shaky and unsure, but soon the fledglings are fast enough to catch their own meals. Now the nearly grown chicks can help their parents raise a new brood of hungry babies-before the cold winter drives the family south.