Small North American songbirds with blue feathers, known for their beautiful singing and their association with happiness.
Compound of 'blue' (from Old English 'blaw') + 'bird' (from Germanic root). The bird itself (genus Sialia) is native to North America; the English name simply describes its appearance.
Bluebirds became a symbol of happiness in American culture partly through a 1908 operetta called 'The Bluebird of Happiness,' and now they're embedded in language and metaphor—we say things like 'be happy as a bluebird' without realizing we're referencing a century-old cultural artifact.
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