{"id":101627,"date":"2022-04-19T05:03:13","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T11:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=101627"},"modified":"2022-04-19T05:06:57","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T11:06:57","slug":"male-mountain-bluebird-shadows-and-a-big-stick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/19\/male-mountain-bluebird-shadows-and-a-big-stick\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Mountain Bluebird, Shadows And A Big Stick"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Mountain Bluebird on a old fence post \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I spent some time wandering in the West Desert yesterday morning and the only decent bird photos that I took were of this male Mountain Bluebird.<\/p>\n

Now there may be some people that argue that the bird is too small in the frame and that the “stick” the bluebird is perched on is out of proportion with the smaller body of the bird.<\/p>\n

Let them argue. I am not going to engage.<\/p>\n

When I take photos I take them for me. For my pleasure. Because they appeal to me. I don’t take photos for likes on Facebook or Instagram, for ego strokes or to appear to be the top dog.\u00a0 I take photos because I love and appreciate birds, because I enjoy being in nature and because being out with the birds usually soothes me. Yesterday it wasn’t soothing after my site went down for a bit while I was out in the field.<\/p>\n

I love the shadowed foothills behind this sky blue Mountain Bluebird<\/span><\/a>, the light and the almost pugnacious look the bird appears to have. I like the simplicity of the image. It is simply a bright blue bird on a big, old weathered stick and that is all<\/em> this photo was intended to be.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Mountain Bluebird photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent some time wandering in the West Desert yesterday morning and the only decent bird photos that I took were of this male Mountain Bluebird.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":101624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1369,358,26,1314],"tags":[4004,6811,5933,4880,6812,4098,898,7017,4062,228,4104,4677,4339,10452,165,3844,4881,8917],"class_list":["post-101627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-mountain-bluebirds","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-adult","tag-bird-on-a-stick","tag-bluebird","tag-bluebirds","tag-boas","tag-desert","tag-fence-post","tag-foothills","tag-male","tag-mountain-bluebird","tag-perched","tag-shadows","tag-sialia-currucoides","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-spring","tag-thrush","tag-thrushes","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/mountain-bluebird-shadow-stick-mia-mcpherson-7622.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-qr9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":102335,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/13\/west-desert-mountain-bluebird\/","url_meta":{"origin":101627,"position":0},"title":"West Desert Mountain Bluebird","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It is always lovely to have a male Mountain Bluebird like this one I found in the West Desert in my viewfinder because they rival the color of the sky overhead.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"West Desert male Mountain Bluebird, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-2046.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-2046.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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male Mountain Bluebird in the foothills of West Desert mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-west-desert-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0499.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-west-desert-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0499.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-west-desert-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0499.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-west-desert-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0499.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-8703-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-8703-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-8703-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-8703-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36293,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/25\/headed-west-yesterday-western-bluebirds-in-tooele-county\/","url_meta":{"origin":101627,"position":3},"title":"Western Bluebirds in Tooele County, Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Seeing these uncommon Western Bluebirds in Tooele County in the Stansbury Mountain Range yesterday is part of why I love bird photography so much.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched Western Bluebird female, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/western-bluebird-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-4396.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/western-bluebird-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-4396.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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I think Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoide) males are a wonderful example of just how blue a bird can be.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Mountain Bluebird, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-mia-mcpherson-5375.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-mia-mcpherson-5375.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-mia-mcpherson-5375.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-mia-mcpherson-5375.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37342,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/24\/mountain-bluebird-plumage-development-stages\/","url_meta":{"origin":101627,"position":5},"title":"Mountain Bluebird Plumage Development Stages","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"These images from different times of the year show Mountain Bluebird plumage development stages from not long after fledging to adulthood.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched juvenile Mountain Bluebird, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7094.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7094.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7094.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7094.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}