Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2013May19

I seem to have been really lucky with Mountain Bluebirds the last couple of weeks, though the lighting hasn't always been the best. I never get tired of seeing these gorgeous blue birds. The male is spectacular, but the female with her more grey colouring, has her own beauty, too. Taken on 14 May 2013, along a backroad 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...