Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: 21 June 2014

This morning, I am posting three photos from my archives, all taken in June 2014. I just haven't been getting out and, on the very occasional time I have been out with my camera, there has been so little to photograph. As for Mountain Bluebirds, I have seen one very distant male so far this spring. Ha, is it really spring? We had yet another snowfall yesterday! 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... 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.

This morning, I am posting three photos from my archives, all taken in June 2014. I just haven't been getting out and, on the very occasional time I have been out with my camera, there has been so little to photograph. As for Mountain Bluebirds, I have seen one very distant male so far this spring. Ha, is it really spring? We had yet another snowfall yesterday! This photo was taken on a drive along some of the backroads SW of Calgary, on 21 June 2014. "A bird to be seen in the full sun, the male Brewer’s Blackbird is a glossy, almost liquid combination of black, midnight blue, and metallic green. Females are a staid brown, without the male’s bright eye or the female Red-winged Blackbird’s streaks. Common in towns and open habitats of much of the West, you’ll see these long-legged, ground-foraging birds on sidewalks and city parks as well as chuckling in flocks atop shrubs, trees, and reeds." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brewers_Blackbird/overview