Getting Swooped by an Eastern Bluebird Mother

Eastern Bluebird Nestlings: May 1, 2025

Eastern Bluebird Nestlings: May 10, 2025

A True Story

In the picture, you can see baby eastern bluebirds who fledged on May 13, 2025. There were five of them. Only heavy rain stopped them from flying out of the nest; light rain was not a hindrance.

One fledgling landed inside my garden enclosure, which has bird-netting walls to keep the deer out. Adult birds know how to fly up to get out. This one fledgling kept trying to fly straight forward. When it was still there, huddled on the ground, a few hours later, I decided to intervene. 

First, I went into the garden enclosure, leaving the door open. I tried to walk behind the fledgling, knowing that it would be scared and try to fly away from me. My hope was that it would fly out the open door. 

Instead, it flew itself into a corner. I tried to shoo it, but it could not figure out how to fly upwards. Then Mama decided to swoop me. Do you know how scary a little bluebird is when its wings are spread and it's flying at your face?

I didn't want to look at it and see how close it got because if it did make contact, I didn't want that contact to be with my face, especially my mouth or eyes. But not looking up meant all I could do was feel the air change as it swooped over my head, then turned around for another pass. It felt like it got closer with each turn.

I went inside to get garden gloves. I hoped the fledgling would escape in the time it took me to return. 

It did not. All the juvenile bluebird did was crouch closer into the corner, so I picked it up, making the mother bluebird very agitated. There's something uniquely disconcerting about angry energy flying at your head when you can't see it coming.

As soon as I got outside the garden enclosure, I released the struggling juvenile and it quickly flew into a wooded area. I quickly scuttled inside to get away from the protective mama bird. 

I watched out the window. It took the mother a few minutes to accept that the danger was passed, but eventually she disappeared into the trees.