Little beauty

Took this photo almost a year and a half ago - seems so much longer than that. Came across a pair of these incredible, beautiful Mountain Bluebirds NW of Calgary, on 4 May 2012. The rough perch was a little different for a photo - made a change from barbed-wire : )

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...