Newsletter / Blog
2011-12-08 Idaho State Bird – Mountain Bluebird.
The Mountain
Bluebird - Sialia currucoides – is migratory, from Mexico in the winter to as far north as Alaska. Northern birds
migrate to the southern parts of the range. Southern birds are often permanent
residents. Some birds may move to lower elevations in winter. They inhabit open
rangelands, meadows, generally at elevations above 5,000 feet. It is the state
bird of Idaho.
Description
They have light
underbellies and black eyes. Adult males have thin bills are bright
turquoise-blue and somewhat lighter beneath. Adult females have duller blue
wings and tail, grey breast, grey crown, throat and back. In fresh fall
plumage, the female's throat and breast are tinged with red-orange; brownish
near the flank contrasting with white tail underparts.
Call
The call is a thin few
and a warbled high chur chur. The male can be seen singing from bare
branches. The singing takes place right at dawn, just when the sun rises.
Food
They mainly eat
insects and berries. These birds hover over the ground and fly down to catch
insects, also flying from a perch to catch them. They may forage in flocks in
winter, when they mainly eat grasshoppers. Mountain bluebirds will come to a
platform feeder with live meal worms, berries, or peanuts.
Breeding
Mountain
bluebirds are a monogamous breed. Females usually build the nests themselves. The female lays 4 to 5 pale
blue, sometimes white eggs. Incubation normally last 14 days and the young will
take about 21 days before they leave the nest. Both males and females fiercely
protect the nest.
Conservation Status – Least Concern
Mountain
bluebirds are not a species of concern in the United States. The turn around in
Mountain bluebird numbers is due to the overwhelming efforts of landowners in
the West to provide nest boxes for these birds. At one time, Mountain bluebird
numbers were threatened because of increased competition for decreasing natural
cavity nesting spots by other species such as Tree Swallows and the House
Sparrow.
Birdwatching
Mountain
Bluebirds can be found in alpine parklands in the Cascades, the Blue Mountains,
and the northeast corner of Washington.
They are absent as breeders from the Olympic Mountains.
In western Washington, they can be found
locally near Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens.
In eastern Washington they can be found along
Umtanum Ridge (Yakima County), Elk
Heights (Kittitas
County), in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, and at mid-elevations on the east slope
of the Cascades in meadows and logged areas. There is a significant population
in Klickitat County around Bickleton where an
intensive nest box program has provided many nesting opportunities. The
Mountain Bluebird is the only bluebird that nests in alpine parkland and high
elevation open areas. In the winter they can be found in flocks in similar
habitat and more open, treeless terrain, but they are very uncommon. |