Hi Everybody,Up to about three or four days ago I was freezing my butt off and it felt more like mid winter instead of getting later in the spring. But just yesterday and today the weather has taken a dramatic change for the better. It seems a funny thing but along with the blue skies have come the Bluebirds. To be more specific Mountain Bluebirds. They seem to show up in the strangest places. I have one question. If they are supposed to be "Mountain Bluebirds" how come we see them almost exclusively by the ocean?
Up until yesterday I had never seen a Mountain Bluebird first hand and only dreamed of getting one in front of my lens. I had heard reports of them only to follow up by making the trip to where they were seen and then be disappointed. That all changed when I took my family to Piper's Lagoon for a walk in the warm spring sun. I didn't take the camera because I couldn't see dragging it along just to photograph the same local birds that I had made part of my picture collection many times over. You should have seen me high tail it back to the car when I caught a glimpse of this guy. Chances are that he is just a transient on his way up north and is resting here temporarily until he gets himself fattened up for the rest of his journey.
It's quite hard to describe the beauty of one of these birds but I think that the best part is the variety of their shades of blue. Depending on the angle of light the bird can take on all kinds of different blues from something near a robin's egg blue to nearly a dark indigo and every shade in between - really amazing! Another astonishing thing was how tame he seemed to be. Even the Towhees were more spooked about people than he was.
Still looking forward to the other exotic birds such as the Black Headed Gross Beaks ,Western Tanagers and of course the Orioles. If the Bluebirds are any indication it should be a great season coming up for these kind of birds.
Take care until next time,
Steve
