{"id":34886,"date":"2016-01-16T05:50:48","date_gmt":"2016-01-16T12:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=34886"},"modified":"2025-05-19T10:08:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T15:08:04","slug":"a-mountain-bluebird-chick-in-montana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/16\/a-mountain-bluebird-chick-in-montana\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain Bluebird chick in Montana"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"YoungA young Mountain Bluebird chick in Montana – Nikon D810, f9, 1\/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

This young Mountain Bluebird chick was photographed last summer at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a> in southwestern Montana. I’m not sure where these bluebirds nested at the campground at the Lower Lake but I know it had to be nearby because the two chicks I observed were just starting the process of learning to fly and could barely make it up to the fence rails.\u00a0 The adults were nearby and bringing food to the chicks but they appeared to be using the prey as an incentive to fly up to the top rail of the fence during most of the time that I observed and photographed them.<\/p>\n

I’m starting to miss the Centennial Valley and Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. I love winter but these gray days lately seem to be causing my longing for spring’s arrival to intensify.<\/p>\n

Life is 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":"

This young Mountain Bluebird chick was photographed last summer at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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":""},"categories":[1513,27,223,12,1369,608],"tags":[5933,4880,4134,3830,4071,228,4104,4339,165,5434,4193],"class_list":["post-34886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-montana","category-mountain-bluebirds","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-bluebird","tag-bluebirds","tag-chick","tag-fence","tag-juvenile","tag-mountain-bluebird","tag-perched","tag-sialia-currucoides","tag-spring","tag-valley","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5597.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-94G","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4663,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/21\/mountain-bluebird-male\/","url_meta":{"origin":34886,"position":0},"title":"Mountain Bluebird Male","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"How blue can blue be? 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":9060,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/31\/juvenile-mountain-bluebird-in-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":34886,"position":1},"title":"Juvenile Mountain Bluebird in Montana","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month and this month I wrote about Mountain Bluebirds in several posts that included images of adult males and females, today I am posting one image of the many fledglings I saw last week.","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":"Mountain Bluebird juvenile in Montana, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6110.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-6110.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-6110.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-6110.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15339,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/07\/mountain-bluebird-female-hopping-into-monday\/","url_meta":{"origin":34886,"position":2},"title":"Mountain Bluebird female – Hopping into Monday","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Some times when I am photographing I capture my subjects in funny poses and I think I did exactly that with this Mountain Bluebird female.","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":"Leaping female Mountain Bluebird, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-hop-mia-mcpherson-9682.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-female-hop-mia-mcpherson-9682.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-hop-mia-mcpherson-9682.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-hop-mia-mcpherson-9682.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8607,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/16\/a-mountain-bluebird-tribute-to-fathers\/","url_meta":{"origin":34886,"position":3},"title":"Mountain Bluebird Tribute to Fathers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday my post focused on female Mountain Bluebirds and today I am presenting males in honor of Father's Day. I was blessed to have two fathers, one who died when I was very young and later in my second Dad came into my life.","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 in a stiff wind, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-montana-mia-mcpherson-2168.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-montana-mia-mcpherson-2168.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-montana-mia-mcpherson-2168.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-montana-mia-mcpherson-2168.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8600,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/15\/female-mountain-bluebirds-in-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":34886,"position":4},"title":"Female Mountain Bluebirds in Montana","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"There were Mountain Bluebirds everywhere I looked on my recent trip to Montana where flashes of their brilliant blue plumage were a delight to my eyes.","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":"Mountain Bluebird female with prey for her young, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-7085.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-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-7085.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-7085.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-7085.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8865,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/13\/the-amazing-legacy-of-the-bluebird-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":34886,"position":5},"title":"The Amazing Legacy of the Bluebird Man","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I want to thank Neil Paprocki for sharing information about Al Larson and the upcoming film The Bluebird Man, I have learned a lot from the web site and through my interview with Neil and I am all for learning more about the wonderful natural world around me.","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":"Female Mountain Bluebird with prey at the nest box, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-nest-box-prey-mia-mcpherson-9124.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-female-nest-box-prey-mia-mcpherson-9124.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-nest-box-prey-mia-mcpherson-9124.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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