{"id":23227,"date":"2015-05-04T03:30:22","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T09:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=23227"},"modified":"2025-08-15T05:45:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T10:45:12","slug":"black-and-blue-all-over-with-just-a-splash-of-red","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/05\/04\/black-and-blue-all-over-with-just-a-splash-of-red\/","title":{"rendered":"Black and Blue All Over With Just a Splash of Red"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FemaleFemale Mountain Bluebird at a Northern Flicker nesting cavity<\/span><\/p>\n

No, I didn’t take a tumble and I am not black and blue all over. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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 forgot to mention in my post yesterday that a Northern Flicker took over the Williamson’s nesting cavity I photographed last year and is doing some renovation, mainly enlarging the entrance hole.<\/p>\n

The female Mountain Bluebird kept checking out the cavity and one time brought in some nesting materials. I will be curious to see who wins the nesting cavity war in the future.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Mountain Bluebird on the Sapsucker Tree<\/span><\/p>\n

This male Mountain Bluebird was checking out the other side of the aspen when I photographed it. I love that vibrant blue against the black background and white of the aspen. I’ll write more later on how the bluebirds didn’t take kindly to the Williamson’s Sapsucker at a later date but it was exciting!<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Red-breasted Nuthatch<\/span><\/p>\n

I am including this image of a male Red-breasted Nuthatch just because I think they are cute little buggers and this one sang for quite sometime on this perch.<\/p>\n

Oddly enough I seemed to have been drawn to all of these images because of their black or very dark, natural backgrounds. I haven’t touched the blacks on any of these images so nothing about the background is “photoshopped” but I love how well all three birds stand out from the backgrounds.<\/p>\n

The birds I saw and photographed were black and blue all over with just a splash of red.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Even magical at the Sapsucker Tree!<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

PS, all images taken with my Nikon D810, 500mm VR lens. All editing done on my lap top and I hope the sharpness is fine on all the images.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Mountains Bluebird photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,2578,2244,1369,3700,2261],"tags":[4004,1919,5933,4880,5370,228,2580,2579,4927,4928,6576,7791,3701,4339,3702,165],"class_list":["post-23227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-clark-county","category-idaho","category-mountain-bluebirds","category-red-breasted-nuthatches","category-targhee-national-forest","tag-adult","tag-aspen","tag-bluebird","tag-bluebirds","tag-forest","tag-mountain-bluebird","tag-nesting-cavity","tag-nesting-tree","tag-nuthatch","tag-nuthatches","tag-populus-tremuloides","tag-quaking-aspen","tag-red-breasted-nuthatch","tag-sialia-currucoides","tag-sitta-canadensis","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-mia-mcpherson-6127.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-62D","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46558,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/03\/sapsuckers-bluebirds-and-nuthatches-and-the-magical-sapsucker-tree\/","url_meta":{"origin":23227,"position":0},"title":"Sapsuckers, Bluebirds and Nuthatches and the Magical Sapsucker Tree","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"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\".","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Williamson's Sapsucker on a tree with three nesting cavities showing, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/williamsons-sapsucker-male-nesting-tree-mia-mcpherson-7075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/williamsons-sapsucker-male-nesting-tree-mia-mcpherson-7075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-breasted-nuthatch-aspen-mia-mcpherson-5227.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-breasted-nuthatch-aspen-mia-mcpherson-5227.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-breasted-nuthatch-aspen-mia-mcpherson-5227.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-breasted-nuthatch-aspen-mia-mcpherson-5227.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":23227,"position":2},"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, 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Bluebird inside a nesting cavity, West Desert, Tooele County, 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 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McPherson","date":"May 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"By excavating their own nests Northern Flickers provide nests for other woodland birds that can't excavate nesting cavities on their own and those nests can be used over and over again. Nature is brilliant.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Northern Flicker perched outside of his nest, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-male-nesting-forest-mia-mcpherson-8171.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-male-nesting-forest-mia-mcpherson-8171.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-male-nesting-forest-mia-mcpherson-8171.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-male-nesting-forest-mia-mcpherson-8171.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\/23227","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=23227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}