Bloob
(Sialia sialis, eastern bluebird)
Quarrelsome, argumentative, pushy, muscling smaller birds out of the way when there are precious arthropods at stake. But in the house sparrows, those bibbed invaders from far-off lands, a formidable foe arose, one that did not hesitate to build his nest around the bones of your young. Yet your brilliance, brown feathers blued by a trick of the light, is the ace in the hole. No one mourns a house sparrow, but at the thought of a summer without bluebirds, the hue and cry went up. Birdhouses, solely for you, now dot the countryside. Feeders burst with farmed mealworms. Whoever said looks can’t buy happiness has never been truly blue

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