Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: 6–8 in

Taken south west of the city on June 10th, when we finally had a beautiful sunny day. These Mountain Bluebirds are such gorgeous little birds and need as much human help as possible in order to protect their numbers. "The bluebirds' color was so remarkable to Henry David Thoreau (American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist) that he felt compelled to describe this species' coloring as "carrying the sky on its back." An insightful description since the bluebird's blue color does, in fact, come from light waves scattered by the structure of their feathers, not from blue pigment in their feathers-a blue suncatcher, so to speak. That's why a bluebird appears gray on an overcast day." From michigantoday.umich.edu/99/Fal99/mt15f99a.html www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Bluebird

Managed to find a Mountain Bluebird that actually gave me a chance for a distant photo or two. No close shots, though. They are such beautiful birds. Seen south west of the city on Friday, a day finally that had blue sky!

A second photo of this beautiful Mountain Bluebird that flew over to near where I was standing, posed to the left, posed to the right and then off it flew. Similar to the previously posted image, but facing the opposite way. Taken south west of Calgary on April 10th, along one of the backroads. Such breathtaking little birds. 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 I've just watched an 18-minute video on YouTube about how the Mycelium of fungi could save the planet. Perhaps a little heavy going in parts, but quite fascinating, too. The research that is going on sounds very promising. youtu.be/XI5frPV58tY

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