{"id":37342,"date":"2016-03-24T06:08:35","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T12:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=37342"},"modified":"2025-05-19T10:27:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T15:27:29","slug":"mountain-bluebird-plumage-development-stages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/24\/mountain-bluebird-plumage-development-stages\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain Bluebird Plumage Development Stages"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WayneWayne County Mountain Bluebird male<\/span><\/p>\n

While on my recent trip to southern Utah’s Wayne County I was able to photograph a few Mountain Bluebirds including a female up close but in poor light and this male perched on a branch on the ground. In the bright light this male seemed to glow compared to the earthy tones of the high desert habitat.<\/p>\n

\"CentennialCentennial Valley juvenile Mountain Bluebird<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a juvenile Mountain Bluebird I photographed in July of 2013 in the Centennial Valley of Montana. This juvenile probably fledged a few weeks before I photographed it perched on a wire fence early in the morning.<\/p>\n

\"PerchedPerched juvenile Mountain Bluebird<\/span><\/p>\n

This immature bluebird is in its juvenal plumage stage. At this age the males and females look similar but the wings of the females would appear duller or slightly greenish so it is my best guess that this juvenile is a young male.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile male Mountain Bluebird molting into basic plumage<\/span><\/p>\n

Two months later, in September, in the same area of the Centennial Valley I was able to photograph a juvenile male Mountain Bluebird molting into basic plumage, or Basic 1 plumage. I kind of like this calico look!<\/p>\n

\"MoltingMolting juvenile male Mountain Bluebird<\/span><\/p>\n

The juvenile bluebird still shows some of the juvenal plumage and by winter it should have completed the molting process. Before then though it would have migrated south for the winter.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Mountain Bluebird with nesting material<\/span><\/p>\n

Female Mountain Bluebirds are much duller more gray with hints of blue on the back, tail and wings. This female was photographed in May of last year in the Targhee National Forest of Idaho at a natural nesting cavity. There was a Northern Flicker also attempting to nest in this cavity.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Mountain Bluebird at Nesting Cavity<\/span><\/p>\n

This male is the mate of the female show in the image above at the same nesting cavity and shows the sky blue colors I am so familiar with seeing in male Mountain Bluebirds. Both the male and female are in what is called Definitive Basic plumage, or adult plumage. Unfortunately this tree was chopped down so the bluebirds, wrens, flickers, swallows, nuthatches and sapsuckers who could have nested there were forced to find new nesting locations.<\/p>\n

These images from different times of the year show Mountain Bluebird plumage development stages from not long after fledging to adulthood. Each and every time I am in the field photographing birds I seem to learn something new or fascinating.<\/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":"

These images from different times of the year show Mountain Bluebird plumage development stages from not long after fledging to adulthood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145125,"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":[1513,27,223,2578,2244,12,1369,2261,26,2486],"tags":[4004,1919,5933,4880,4070,3830,9529,5370,9987,4067,4643,4071,56,4062,2313,228,2580,4104,4996,9986,4997,4995,4339,3844,4881,2357,4193],"class_list":["post-37342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-clark-county","category-idaho","category-montana","category-mountain-bluebirds","category-targhee-national-forest","category-utah","category-wayne-county","tag-adult","tag-aspen","tag-bluebird","tag-bluebirds","tag-female","tag-fence","tag-fledged","tag-forest","tag-high-desert-habitat","tag-immature","tag-juvenal-plumage","tag-juvenile","tag-juveniles-2","tag-male","tag-molting","tag-mountain-bluebird","tag-nesting-cavity","tag-perched","tag-plumage-development","tag-plumage-development-stages","tag-plumage-phases","tag-plumage-stages","tag-sialia-currucoides","tag-thrush","tag-thrushes","tag-wire-fence","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7094.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-9Ii","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":69228,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/30\/nesting-mountain-bluebirds-and-other-woodland-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":37342,"position":0},"title":"Nesting Mountain Bluebirds And Other Woodland Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I had a blast photographing a pair of Mountain Bluebirds at a natural nesting cavity at the edge of a forest along with some other woodland birds.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Mountain 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, 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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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/western-bluebird-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-4396.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/western-bluebird-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-4396.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":37342,"position":2},"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, 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Wayne County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-aquarius-plateau-mia-mcpherson-6920.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-aquarius-plateau-mia-mcpherson-6920.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-aquarius-plateau-mia-mcpherson-6920.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-aquarius-plateau-mia-mcpherson-6920.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44648,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/01\/29\/mountain-bluebird-blue-on-blue\/","url_meta":{"origin":37342,"position":4},"title":"Mountain Bluebird – Blue on Blue","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Mountain Bluebird in Wayne County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-mia-mcpherson-6941.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-6941.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-6941.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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