{"id":47472,"date":"2017-06-28T04:42:19","date_gmt":"2017-06-28T10:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=47472"},"modified":"2025-05-19T10:59:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T15:59:18","slug":"mountain-bluebirds-with-juveniles-in-summit-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/06\/28\/mountain-bluebirds-with-juveniles-in-summit-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain Bluebirds with Juveniles in Summit County"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Mountain Bluebird in Summit County – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/400, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Seeing Mountain Bluebirds always brings a smile to my lips so when I saw a family of them yesterday in Summit County<\/span><\/a> I couldn’t help but smile at their awesome blueness. The bluebird family was foraging along a dirt road and they moved from small trees to aspens to the tops of sagebrush.<\/p>\n

The birds were a bit difficult to keep up with and I wanted to photograph them while they were on open perches and after several missed attempts I was able to photograph this male in all of his bright blue glory on top of a wild fruit tree.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Mountain Bluebird feeding a cricket to a juvenile – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/640, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Later I photographed a juvenile Mountain Bluebird even though I didn’t much care for the messy setting of twigs criss-crossing through the frame when an adult male flew in with a cricket to feed his young.<\/p>\n

The young Mountain Bluebird turned and snatched the cricket from the male quickly before any of its siblings could reach the branches. The light angle wasn’t the best for this photo but I liked the interaction between the two bluebirds and the behavior shown in the frame.<\/p>\n

Male Mountain Bluebirds are great providers for their young.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

The young Mountain Bluebird turned and snatched the cricket from the male quickly before any of its siblings could reach the branches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_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":[27,1369,1731,26],"tags":[4004,5933,4880,3940,6531,5934,4040,4067,4071,4062,228,4069,6532,4339,2315,3844,4881,7281,4193],"class_list":["post-47472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-mountain-bluebirds","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bluebird","tag-bluebirds","tag-canyon","tag-chokecherry","tag-cricket","tag-feeding","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-male","tag-mountain-bluebird","tag-mountains","tag-prunus-virginiana","tag-sialia-currucoides","tag-summer-3","tag-thrush","tag-thrushes","tag-western-chokecherry","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-4314.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-clG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":63642,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/31\/juvenile-mountain-bluebird-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":47472,"position":0},"title":"Juvenile Mountain Bluebird In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 31, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I can't imagine not seeing these beautiful Mountain Bluebirds feeding, breeding and raising their young in the mountains that are close to where I live.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Mountain Bluebird perched in a Chokecherry tree, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountian-bluebird-juvenile-perched-mia-mcpherson-5679-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountian-bluebird-juvenile-perched-mia-mcpherson-5679-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountian-bluebird-juvenile-perched-mia-mcpherson-5679-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountian-bluebird-juvenile-perched-mia-mcpherson-5679-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":72319,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/07\/30\/young-mountain-bluebirds-in-my-viewfinder\/","url_meta":{"origin":47472,"position":1},"title":"Young Mountain Bluebirds In My Viewfinder","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I was happy to have these juvenile Mountain Bluebirds in my viewfinder yesterday and to be able to listen to their soft calls high on the sagebrush dotted hillside.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mountain Bluebird juvenile perched on a sagebrush stump, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-perched-on-sage-stump-mia-mcpherson-5189.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-perched-on-sage-stump-mia-mcpherson-5189.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-perched-on-sage-stump-mia-mcpherson-5189.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-perched-on-sage-stump-mia-mcpherson-5189.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5268.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-5268.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-5268.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-5268.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":59456,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/08\/12\/picture-this-utah-could-lose-our-mountain-bluebirds\/","url_meta":{"origin":47472,"position":3},"title":"Picture This: Utah Could Lose Our Mountain Bluebirds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Our current climate crisis could mean Utah might lose our Mountain Bluebirds and it is not just us, it is Idaho, California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming that will also be affected if action isn't taken now.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Mountain Bluebird perched in an elderberry, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-elderberry-mia-mcpherson-8992-1.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-elderberry-mia-mcpherson-8992-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-elderberry-mia-mcpherson-8992-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-elderberry-mia-mcpherson-8992-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":90551,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/06\/18\/male-mountain-bluebird-perched-on-mullein\/","url_meta":{"origin":47472,"position":4},"title":"Male Mountain Bluebird Perched On Mullein","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't had many bluebirds in my viewfinder this spring so when this adult male Mountain Bluebird perched on mullein showed up last week I was happy to photograph it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Mountain Bluebird perched on mullein, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-on-mullein-mia-mcpherson-5870.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-on-mullein-mia-mcpherson-5870.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-on-mullein-mia-mcpherson-5870.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-on-mullein-mia-mcpherson-5870.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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