Mountain Bluebird

Hoping to see even just a glimpse of one of these beautiful Mountain Bluebirds, I decided to go south west of the city yesterday and drive just a few backroads. I believe I saw four pairs, but from a distance. This one male actually flew to a tree near where I was standing, gave a pose to the left and a pose to the right, and off he flew : ) It was rather unusual behaviour, from my experience. He has been banded a few times - some of these small birds are wearing four coloured bands on their tiny, thin legs. At one tiime, Mountain Bluebird numbers were threatened, but this is turning around, thanks to so many people placing woden nesting boxes along fence lines and other locations. There is great competition for these nesting boxes from Tree Swallows especially, also House Sparrows. It feels so good to see blue skies and to be able to feel ones fingers when trying to press the shutter button! No ice and snow to clear off the car - what could be better than that? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Bluebird

Yesterday evening, I went with a gentleman who has had a Bluebird nesting box route for something like 25 years, recording and banding the various birds he finds. These include Tree Swallows, too. This is the third year in a row that I have gone on this drive south of the city and I enjoy it every time. Actually, this time, there was an added bonus - we were shown a flying squirrel that has taken over a nesting box. This photo shows one of the female Mountain Bluebirds with mouth full, waiting patiently (or otherwise!) for us to finish at her nesting box. Love the mix of colours in her feathers.

Isn't this baby Mountain Bluebird just the cutest little thing? It's only one or two days old and has these most amazing hair-like feathers. The sun was gleaming through these fine hairs - not sure why the background is black but it does show off all the silver down. Yesterday evening, I went with a gentleman who has had a Bluebird nesting box route for something like 25 years, recording and banding the various birds he finds. These include Tree Swallows, too. Apparently, in all these years, this gentleman has never known a mother to abandon her babies after they have been picked up and banded. The Mountain Bluebird population was dropping drastically but, thanks to this nesting box program, their numbers are increasing again. By the way, this is not MY hand! This is the third year in a row that I have gone on this short drive south of the city and I enjoy it every time. Actually, this time, there was an added bonus - we were shown a flying squirrel that has taken over a nesting box.

Just had another long, but wonderful, day of botanizing today, at the Perrenoud Natural Area (north west of the city). Left home just after 7:00 a.m. and got home about 6:00 p.m.. Mind you, that does include stopping in Cochrane for an ice-cream on the way home! Thanks for the yummy treat, Sandy - and of course, thanks for driving, Doug! Cochrane (north west of Calgary) is well known for it's ice-cream. One of the highlights (for me, anyway) was when we saw two young Great Gray Owls - too far away for a proper photo, but such a thrill to see. We even found a few MUSHROOMS - yay!!!!! Nothing too spectacular yet, but they were enough to make me happy today : ) After all, I've waited for almost a year for mushrooms to start appearing again!! A gorgeous male Mountain Bluebird - the mate of the female who is in two or three fairly recent photos that I've uploaded to Flickr. Seen just south west of the city, along one of the gravel backroads almost a month ago. In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays." www.birds.cornell.edu/allaboutbirds/studying/feathers/col... "In Alberta, they are most readily seen along roadsides in the foothill country near Calgary where bluebird enthusiasts provide, maintain and monitor nestboxes. Autumn migration is an extended affair. Flocks assemble in mid August and most have departed by late September. Usually, however, there are some that linger to late October and sometimes into November." talkaboutwildlife.ca/profile/?s=238

The vibrant blue colour of these small birds is almost unreal. Seeing them for the first time after a long, cold winter takes ones breath away. They are very active, so I never find it easy to get even a distant photo of them. Was lucky to get both a female (top) along with a male (bottom) at the same time.

I declined the offer to hold one in my hands. Love those long, stray hairs! Hard to believe that this tiny thing will grow up to become a bird that is such a vivid blue - if it's a male, that is. Not bad in large size.

When I got home (on 19th June) and looked at this photo on my computer, I got quite a surprise when I saw that this female Mountain Bluebird was wearing four leg bands! No sign of this pair when I cruised the backroads the other day. Only saw three or four Bluebirds at all, and from a great distance, so it looks like I've missed any chance of trying to get closer and better photos of these beautiful little birds for this year.

These tiny, blue eggs were in one of the nesting boxes on Monday evening's drive to check one of the Mountain Bluebird nesting box routes south of Highway 22X. Mountain Bluebirds use grass for their nests, whereas the Tree Swallows, who take over some of the boxes, use a delightful selection of bird feathers to line their nest.

A couple of evenings ago, I went with a gentleman who has had a Bluebird nesting box route for something like 25 years, recording and banding the various birds he finds. These include Tree Swallows, too. This is the third year in a row that I have gone on this drive south of the city and I enjoy it every time. I'd like to say that I deliberately took this blurred in-flight shot - but you all know better, LOL! Seemed too pretty to delete!