Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: 15 million Thank Yous

Memories of last summer

17 Feb 2015 205
I just needed a change of colour and subject, so had to dig into my archives last night. Thought this would be a change from winter scenes, old barns, and tiny owl images! Last summer (2014), I was lucky enough to take so many photos of Mountain Bluebirds, many of which I've never posted. This photo was taken on a drive along some of the backroads SW of Calgary, on 21 June 2014. This male Mountain Bluebird was busy helping to catch insects to feed to their babies. He caught a very nice Grasshopper this time : ) It had rained the few days before this, so I really, really wanted to get out for a short time, even though I needed to get my things ready for a very early start the next morning, for a day trip with a group of friends, to Dinosaur Provincial Park. 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... Once again, sleep was more important, so I'm posting really late again today, shortly after noon.