Sharing her catch

Not one of the better shots I took yesterday, but it's the only one I got of this very brief sharing moment. The female (Mom) on the left flew closer to the male (Dad) and gave him some of the insect (or spider, I think) that she had just caught. Looks like he was only able to grab one leg of the spider, but I guess a little is better than none. This was the only time they shared food while I was watching. The other times, they either ate the insects themselves or they were given straight away to their babies inside the nesting box. A lot of the time, this Mountain Bluebird pair kept their eyes on their close neighbours - several Tree Swallows., who were nesting in the next box. Taken on 7 June 2014, along one of the backroads SW of Calgary.

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...