Bluebird
View allAll Photos Tagged bluebird
My first sighting of a Mountain Bluebird this year.
Beaverhill County. Alberta.
Member of the Flickr Bird Brigade
Activists for birds and wildlife
Listened to Anne Murray this morning while I processed photos.
"A Little Good News" is a song recorded by Canadian recording artist Anne Murray. It was released in September 1983 as the lead single from the album of the same name. The song was Anne Murray's seventh #1 hit on the Billboard country chart.
____________________________
The Western Bluebird at Bath-time !!
Male Western Bluebirds are shiny blue above with rust-orange extending from a vest on the breast onto the upper back. Females are gray-buff with a pale orange wash on the breast and blue tints to the wings and tail. The throat is blue in males and gray-buff in females, and the lower belly is whitish.
Bluebirds are highly social, and usually feed in flocks during the non-breeding season. They hunt for terrestrial insects by dropping to the ground from a low perch. Western Bluebirds also frequently feed on berries in trees. Western Bluebirds rely on trees both for nesting cavities and hunting perches, and also perch on fences and utility lines.
(Nikon, 500 mm + TC 1.4, 1/1600 @ f/7.1 ISO 6400, edited to taste)
In open parklands of the American West, brilliant blue-and-rust Western Bluebirds sit on low perches and swoop lightly to the ground to catch insects. Deep blue, rusty, and white, males are considerably brighter than the gray-brown, blue-tinged females. This small thrush nests in holes in trees or nest boxes and often gathers in small flocks to feed on insects or berries, giving their quiet, chortling calls.
(Nikon 300/2.8 + TC 1.4, 1/500 @ f6.3, ISO 420)
This lovely bluebird visited my yard today. He found something yummy in my yard. Thank each of you for the visit!
A male Mountain Bluebird hunting insects!! Photot taken in Bickleton, Washington, known as the Bluebird capital of the world. The Bluebirds migrate to Bickleton each Spring after wintering in Mexico and California.
A male Mountain Bluebird perched and looking for insects. Photo taken in Bickleton, Washington, the Bluebird capital of the world!
Wikipedia: The eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) is a small North American migratory thrush found in open woodlands, farmlands, and orchards.
The bright-blue breeding plumage of the male, easily observed on a wire or open perch, makes this species a favorite of birders. It is the state bird of Missouri and New York.
Conservation status: Least Concern
Mountain Bluebird
"Male Mountain Bluebirds lend a bit of cerulean sparkle to open habitats across much of western North America. You may spot these cavity-nesters flitting between perches in mountain meadows, in burned or cut-over areas, or where prairie meets forest—especially in places where people have provided nest boxes. Unlike many thrushes, Mountain Bluebirds hunt insects from perches or while on the wing, at times resembling a tiny American Kestrel with their long wings, hovering flight, and quick dives."
Info from allaboutbirds.com
Eastern bluebirds are flocking to bird boxes along the Cherry Blossom Trail in Daleville, Va. Nesting has begun, with breeding soon to follow. Two more months to spring. c.2023 John M. Hudson | jmhudson1.com
A mountain bluebird sits on a fence post in Alberta, Canada.
Follow me on: - Instagram - 500px - Twitter
______________________________________
Please NOTE and RESPECT the copyright.
© Bob Cuthill Photography - All rights reserved
This image may not be copied, reproduced, published or distributed in any medium without the expressed written permission of the copyright holder.
BobCuthillPhotography@gmail.com
______________________________________
Busy female Bluebird !
Thank you very much for your kind comments, favorites and looking and please stay safe !
Great to see this guy today.
Mountain Bluebirds are usually the first migratory breeding songbirds to arrive here in central Alberta.
This can be problematic for them in some years since we can still get heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures in late March and into April.
Beaver County, Alberta.
Well, it makes me happy to see them in my backyard. They are checking out the boxes, but haven't moved in yet. I'm trying to keep them happy with mealy worms. It would be great to have nesting Eastern Bluebirds, at Bill's Backyard Bird Blind.
Another view of our handsome visitor. I'm endlessly grateful for the high-ISO capabilities of our modern cameras...
These guys are so beautiful, it's almost a religious experience when I see one. (Shot through a dirty windshield).
Western Bluebird... female, and likely still a juvenile as she seemed to have the fluffy look of a fledgling.
Photo taken July 9. 2023
Well, it's been three days now and I haven't seen a bluebird or heard them at all when in the yard. Elvis (Red-shouldered hawk) has been hanging out a lot lately. He leaves each time I go outside so I have no new shots of him. Perhaps he is the reason the blues are not visiting .
On another note, I spotted a yellow-rumped warbler AKA butter butt two days ago. It's a bit early for their return, yet there he was.
I hope you have a fantastic Friday, happy snapping.
A male Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) perched on an old fence post along a prairie pasture east of Tofield, Alberta, Canada.
10 May, 2023.
Slide # GWB_20230510_4646.CR2
Use of this image on websites, blogs or other media without explicit permission is not permitted.
© Gerard W. Beyersbergen - All Rights Reserved Worldwide In Perpetuity - No Unauthorized Use.
Bluebirds have been nesting in the same area for a number of years, I am not sure if it is the same pair keep returning back or they spread the word around about our province as a habitat of choice among bluebirds. This pair hung around for sometime and was very cooperative.
Male Mountain Bluebird ("Sialia currucoides") in the aspen parkland region east of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
28 June, 2011.
Slide # GWB_20110628_6813.CR2
Use of this image on websites, blogs or other media without explicit permission is not permitted.
© Gerard W. Beyersbergen - All Rights Reserved Worldwide In Perpetuity - No Unauthorized Use.
My first and perhaps last time trying this technique (so time consuming!) I want to acknowledge texture artists that have inspired me to give this technique a try. Pat, Rrea, Jules, and Christina are friends and there are others but these four are brilliant at this type of post processing. Thank you for your lovely photo art!
Happy Texture Tuesday!
Be well dear friends and thank you for visiting!!
One more pic of this guy-- hopefully not the last. I've been hearing him around the neighborhood and may have spotted a second one in the area, so-- fingers crossed-- maybe he'll find a nearby spot to raise a family. Our neighborhood has been losing many of its large oaks trees over the past decade or so, and perhaps the upside to that is having more suitable bluebird habitat.
Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) resting near an artificial nest box on the prairie landscape east of Tofield, Alberta, Canada.
10 May, 2023.
Slide # GWB_20230510_4592.CR2
Use of this image on websites, blogs or other media without explicit permission is not permitted.
© Gerard W. Beyersbergen - All Rights Reserved Worldwide In Perpetuity - No Unauthorized Use.