{"id":4663,"date":"2012-03-21T05:36:44","date_gmt":"2012-03-21T11:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4663"},"modified":"2025-05-19T08:31:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T13:31:16","slug":"mountain-bluebird-male","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/21\/mountain-bluebird-male\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain Bluebird Male"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Mountain Bluebird, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Montana – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

How blue can blue be? I think Mountain Bluebird males are a wonderful example of just how blue a bird can be.<\/p>\n

I photographed the Mountain Bluebird male while camping last year at one of my\u00a0favorite locations, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge<\/a><\/span>. All along the rough dirt roads in the refuge Mountain Bluebirds can be seen flitting about, perching on old fence posts and fighting with Tree Swallows for nest boxes.\u00a0 Because the bluebirds are not used to many people being around they are very skittish and I always feel great about getting close enough to get acceptable images.<\/p>\n

Mountain Bluebirds have begun their migration north, it won’t be long before they will be in the Centennial Valley again.<\/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":"

How blue can blue be? I think Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoide) males are a wonderful example of just how blue a bird can be. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145050,"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":[1513,27,12,1369,608],"tags":[4004,5933,4880,898,4062,530,228,9159,4104,4339,3844,4881,5434,8917],"class_list":["post-4663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-montana","category-mountain-bluebirds","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-adult","tag-bluebird","tag-bluebirds","tag-fence-post","tag-male","tag-migration","tag-mountain-bluebird","tag-north","tag-perched","tag-sialia-currucoides","tag-thrush","tag-thrushes","tag-valley","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-mia-mcpherson-5375.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1dd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9060,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/31\/juvenile-mountain-bluebird-in-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":4663,"position":0},"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":8607,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/16\/a-mountain-bluebird-tribute-to-fathers\/","url_meta":{"origin":4663,"position":1},"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, 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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":8133,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/17\/shades-of-blue-wildflowers-birds-sky-and-sea\/","url_meta":{"origin":4663,"position":3},"title":"Shades of Blue – Wildflowers, Birds, Sky and Sea","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I was Thinking Pink so this week I thought I would focus on the shades of blues found in wildflowers, birds, the sky and seas.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron in the Gulf of Mexico at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-adult-mia-mcpherson-5727.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-adult-mia-mcpherson-5727.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-adult-mia-mcpherson-5727.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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":34886,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/16\/a-mountain-bluebird-chick-in-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":4663,"position":5},"title":"Mountain Bluebird chick in Montana","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This young Mountain Bluebird chick was photographed last summer at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana.","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":"Young Mountain Bluebird chick in Montana at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in the Centennial Valley","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5597.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-5597.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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