Family: Turdidae
Thrushes and their allies are elegant songsters, they are usually long-legged with short, blunt tipped bills. They feed on insects, worms, snails and fruits. Some thrushes are brightly colored like bluebirds and Varied Thrushes and some are dull in coloration such as Townsend’s Solitaires and Gray-cheeked Thrushes. They can be found in many different habitats.
Because of our wetter than normal spring it seems that the chokecherries are doing well, extremely well. Many of the chokecherry branches are bending low because of the weight of the blossoms.
I dug through my older files and found this photo of a fledgling Mountain Bluebird perched on a wire fence that I photographed in July of 2017 up in Montana's Centennial Valley.
When I saw this immature American Robin perched in some bushes that were starting to show the colors of autumn I knew I wanted to photograph it, so I did.
On February 16th I woke to fresh snow on the ground and I knew I wanted to see if the American Robins were still feeding in the crabapple trees close to home.
Two afternoons ago when I left the local pond to head home I saw at least 75-100 foraging American Robins in some crabapple trees and on the ground in the snow.
My best bird that morning was this adult American Robin that fluffed, preened and gobbled down some berries while perched in a Utah Serviceberry tree.
There was plenty of bird activity where chokecherry trees lined both sides of the gravel road, the most numerous birds foraging on the chokecherries were American Robins and many of them were immature birds.
In the past week I have photographed so many birds in a Wasatch Mountain canyon that I thought I would share a group of them in a photo gallery.
While photographing some waxwings a flash of movement caught my eye and I spotted an immature American Robin reaching for a berry in a Utah Serviceberry shrub, I couldn't help myself, I had to photograph this young bird too.
This juvenile Mountain Bluebird was hunting for food its own, perching on sagebrush and then diving to the ground after prey.
Yesterday in a Wasatch Mountain canyon I found a cooperative female American Robin resting on a perch on a hillside covered with sagebrush.
Last month I had a few opportunities to photograph juvenile Mountain Bluebirds in a Wasatch Mountain canyon while they were being fed by adults and as they learned to hunt on their own.
Luck was on my side when I found the family of Mountain Bluebirds in good light plus they were close enough to take quality photos of them, first the male then the female and the juveniles.
After a bit the female Mountain Bluebird did something surprising... She flew in so close that I could only take close ups of her as she appeared to forage at the edge of the dirt road.
Today's post is just a simple bird. A sky blue Mountain Bluebird perched on a rustic pine fence railing taken on a bright beautiful morning in the Centennial Valley of Montana.
The young Mountain Bluebird turned and snatched the cricket from the male quickly before any of its siblings could reach the branches.
Two years ago today I was in the Targhee National Forest of Clark County, Idaho photographing birds at what I called the "Magical Sapsucker Tree".
The gray skies are getting old and I'm suffering from cabin fever and wishing for some bright bluebird skies to get out to photograph birds and to be able to relax and soak in nature.
This photo of a male Mountain Bluebird in Wayne County, Utah made me smile when I thought about the location where it was created because it is so wild and beautiful up there.
Wow, today is the last day of the year 2016. This is my photographic year in review from Utah, Idaho and Montana!
I was also delighted to photograph this juvenile Mountain Bluebird on the way to Gravelly Range early in the morning.
I was trying to photograph flickers, wrens and sapsuckers in the Targhee National Forest of Idaho earlier this month when the American Robin in the photo above appeared and softly called.
These images from different times of the year show Mountain Bluebird plumage development stages from not long after fledging to adulthood.
Seeing these uncommon Western Bluebirds in Tooele County in the Stansbury Mountain Range yesterday is part of why I love bird photography so much.
This young Mountain Bluebird chick was photographed last summer at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana.
Burrowing Owls and American Robins are about the same size but they are two very different species of birds.
In early May I found this American Robin perched near Modoc Creek, Idaho and I liked the simplicity of of the background and the robin's pose.
Well, it was another fun morning at the Magical Sapsucker Tree and today the cast was joined by a pair of Mountain Bluebirds who seem dead set on taking over the Northern Flicker cavity.
I was stunned and amazed to find not just one Greater Sage-Grouse leks but TWO!
Yesterday while looking for birds to photograph I was enchanted by this Mercur Canyon Mountain Bluebird male while in Tooele County, Utah.