Female Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) - Richmond, BC
A female with a unique beauty all her own.
Do you ever wonder why Bluebirds are blue? It's actually not from blue pigment but from the structure of their feathers. Small air pockets and melanin pigment crystals in each feather bulb scatter blue light and absorb the other wavelengths. The fine structure of the feather gathers the bouncing blue wavelengths together and directs them outward.
Therefore in essence, it is a simple trick of the light. So when Henry David Thoreau said "The bluebird carries the sky on his back", he was actually speaking literally.
Taken at Iona Regional Park.
Female Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) - Richmond, BC
A female with a unique beauty all her own.
Do you ever wonder why Bluebirds are blue? It's actually not from blue pigment but from the structure of their feathers. Small air pockets and melanin pigment crystals in each feather bulb scatter blue light and absorb the other wavelengths. The fine structure of the feather gathers the bouncing blue wavelengths together and directs them outward.
Therefore in essence, it is a simple trick of the light. So when Henry David Thoreau said "The bluebird carries the sky on his back", he was actually speaking literally.
Taken at Iona Regional Park.