{"id":36293,"date":"2016-02-25T05:27:52","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T12:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=36293"},"modified":"2025-07-30T03:15:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T08:15:42","slug":"headed-west-yesterday-western-bluebirds-in-tooele-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/25\/headed-west-yesterday-western-bluebirds-in-tooele-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Bluebirds in Tooele County, Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WesternWestern Bluebird male in Tooele County, Utah – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I headed west yesterday towards the Stansbury Mountains in Tooele County because I wanted to explore some of the canyons of the mountain range. The day started like I thought it would with some images of Horned Larks on rocks. I find a lot of Horned Larks out there.<\/p>\n

Driving up another canyon brought a lovely surprise in the form of a small flock of Western Bluebirds that I found and pointed out on the way back down. I’d seen them before when I lived in Colorado but I had never photographed them which made them lifers for me.<\/p>\n

The male was the first one I photographed as it perched on an old fence post calling very softly. He was further away than I would have liked but I enjoyed looking at his brilliant blue plumage against the rusty red of his chest.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Western Bluebird in Tooele County, Utah – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then a female popped up on a fence post even closer than the male. The females aren’t as brightly colored but they are beautiful just the same. As much as I relished photographing them I also enjoyed hearing their soft calls.<\/p>\n

\"FrontFront view of a Western Bluebird female – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The range maps I looked at show that these Western Bluebirds were well out of their normal range, the maps don’t even show this area as being part of their migration path so seeing them was even more of a treasure than I first imagined when I raised my lens and started photographing them. I looked on eBird.org and only found two sightings in 2008 that were north of Provo.\u00a0 They are found in southern Utah but not typically in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

Is climate change affecting Western Bluebirds? Will we see them more often as they migrate? I truly don’t know.<\/p>\n

\"PerchedPerched Western Bluebird female – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Spotting these uncommon Western Bluebirds in Tooele County in the Stansbury Mountain Range yesterday is part of why I love bird photography so much. You just never know what you will see out there and that alone makes it very exciting.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

My eBird checklist<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seeing these uncommon Western Bluebirds in Tooele County in the Stansbury Mountain Range yesterday is part of why I love bird photography so much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110496,"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":[27,1316,358,26,1314,4937],"tags":[4004,5933,4880,195,4098,4070,3830,898,7017,7558,4062,3946,530,4104,1902,2191,4938,4018,10452,3844,4881,6420,4940,373],"class_list":["post-36293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","category-western-bluebirds","tag-adult","tag-bluebird","tag-bluebirds","tag-canyons","tag-desert","tag-female","tag-fence","tag-fence-post","tag-foothills","tag-front-view","tag-male","tag-migrating","tag-migration","tag-perched","tag-rare","tag-rarity","tag-sialia-mexicana","tag-sky","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-thrush","tag-thrushes","tag-uncommon","tag-western-bluebird","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/western-bluebird-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-4396.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-9rn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":110489,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/24\/west-desert-western-bluebird-memory\/","url_meta":{"origin":36293,"position":0},"title":"West Desert Western Bluebird Memory","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I am sharing a Western Bluebird memory from seven years ago. That day I found small flock of these colorful bluebirds in the West Desert.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Western Bluebird on a wooden fence post, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/western-bluebird-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-4380.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-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-4380.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/western-bluebird-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-4380.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Early Morning Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This male Mountain Bluebird seemed to glow in the early morning light which was in sharp contrast with the shadows on the mountains in the background.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult 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, 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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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-2046.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-2046.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101627,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/19\/male-mountain-bluebird-shadows-and-a-big-stick\/","url_meta":{"origin":36293,"position":4},"title":"Male Mountain Bluebird, Shadows And A Big Stick","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Mountain Bluebird on a old fence post, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/mountain-bluebird-shadow-stick-mia-mcpherson-7622.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/mountain-bluebird-shadow-stick-mia-mcpherson-7622.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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