Album A short drive SW of the city, 11 July 2018 from Anne Elliott

Mountain Bluebird with wildflower bokeh

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 16:34:19 +0000

I always think there is something beautiful about seeing blue and yellow together. They just seem to be made for each other.

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.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id

www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...

"A female Mountain Bluebird pays more attention to good nest sites than to attractive males. She chooses her mate solely on the basis of the location and quality of the nesting cavity he offers her—disregarding his attributes as a singer, a flier, or a looker.

A male Mountain Bluebird frequently feeds his mate while she is incubating and brooding. As the male approaches with food, the female may beg fledgling-style—with open beak, quivering wings, and begging calls. More often, she waits until her mate perches nearby, then silently flicks the wing farthest from him—a signal that usually sends him off to find her a snack.

The oldest recorded Mountain Bluebird was a female, and at least 9 years old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Alberta in 2005. She had been banded in the same province in 1997." From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/

The day before yesterday, 11 July 2018, my place was just too hot for comfort. so I took a short drive SW of the city to see what I could find. I had been wondering if the Mountain Bluebirds were still around and I wanted to check on them. A few were found and two pairs gave me a few chances to take photos. The first pair I checked on was nowhere to be seen - and then I knew why. Way down the road, perched on a high power post, was a Red-tailed Hawk. Once the hawk had flown off over the fields, the Bluebirds appeared. Certain other bird species were not seen during the time I spent out there, so I guess I will have to try again another day.

The highlight of my drive was suddenly spotting a beautiful Moose (probably a young one from last year) who was busily feeding on the trees and bushes a short way into the forest. It was so dark within the trees that I almost missed seeing it. In fact, I thought I had spotted a deer, but a quick U-turn and I discovered it was a Moose, not a deer. It was in no hurry to move away and was still there when I left. Almost every one of my photos came out blurry - most likely because I was shooting from the driver's seat across the passenger seat, with the car still running : ( I had pulled over in a place that was not the best for stopping, so wanted to be able to move if I needed to. Happy that a handful of photos came out OK, though.

Young Moose

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 16:33:17 +0000

Album A short drive SW of the city, 11 July 2018 from Anne Elliott

Mountain Bluebird with wildflower bokeh

Young Moose

Gathering insects for her babies

Red-tailed Hawk

Brome Grass blowing in the wind

Northern Bedstraw / Galium boreale

Feeding his babies

Red-tailed Hawk

Red Clover

Mr. and Mrs. Mountain Bluebird

Savannah Sparrow singing

Moose, reaching for the higher leaves

Brome Grass in bloom

American Goldfinch

Splash of countryside colour

Yesterday's female (or young?) Moose