{"id":52534,"date":"2018-06-11T04:14:59","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T10:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=52534"},"modified":"2025-05-19T11:13:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T16:13:14","slug":"female-mountain-bluebird-from-a-distance-and-up-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/06\/11\/female-mountain-bluebird-from-a-distance-and-up-close\/","title":{"rendered":"Female Mountain Bluebird From A Distance And Up Close"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FemaleFemale Mountain Bluebird in a strong breeze – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

A pair of Mountain Bluebirds delighted me yesterday morning by making an appearance in one of the canyons of the Wasatch Mountains. I took more images of the female bluebird because she was the first of the pair I spotted and because she was visible longer.<\/p>\n

There was a stiff breeze in the canyon yesterday morning and that showed in many of the images I took of the female as she was buffeted by the wind on the perches she chose. In this image she stretched her wings out slightly to maintain her balance.<\/p>\n

The green in the background behind her is a grassy slope on the other side of the canyon. Female Mountain Bluebirds are duller in coloration than the males are but look at that electric blue on her wings and tail!<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Mountain Bluebird in a canyon – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In this photo the pinkish tones are exposed rocks on the other side of the canyon, the pink and green background feels pleasing to my eye so I am glad she used this perch for a bit.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Mountain Bluebird close up – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

After a bit the female Mountain Bluebird did something surprising… She flew in so close that I could only take close ups of her as she appeared to forage at the edge of the dirt road.<\/p>\n

I could have taken off my teleconverter and taken images of her full body but when a bird flies in this close I feel like I have to take advantage of the opportunity and take portraits of my subjects.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Mountain Bluebird up close – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Opportunities to have a Mountain Bluebird this close to me don’t happen everyday, in fact this doesn’t happen very often at all.<\/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":"

After a bit the female Mountain Bluebird did something surprising… She flew in so close that I could only take close ups of her as she appeared to forage at the edge of the dirt road. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[4004,5933,4880,5460,3940,4142,6563,4070,3747,4109,228,4069,4046,4339,4881],"class_list":["post-52534","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-breeze","tag-canyon","tag-close-up","tag-distance","tag-female","tag-grass","tag-grasses","tag-mountain-bluebird","tag-mountains","tag-portrait","tag-sialia-currucoides","tag-thrushes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8936.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dFk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52687,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/06\/20\/focusing-on-photographing-juvenile-mountain-bluebirds\/","url_meta":{"origin":52534,"position":0},"title":"Focusing On Photographing Juvenile Mountain Bluebirds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Luck was on my side when I found the family of Mountain Bluebirds in good light plus they were close enough to take quality photos of them, first the male then the female and the juveniles.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Mountain Bluebird with adult male watching over it, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-adult-mia-mcpherson-4334.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-adult-mia-mcpherson-4334.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-adult-male-sky-trees-mia-mcpherson-7143.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-adult-male-sky-trees-mia-mcpherson-7143.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-adult-male-sky-trees-mia-mcpherson-7143.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-adult-male-sky-trees-mia-mcpherson-7143.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":69228,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/30\/nesting-mountain-bluebirds-and-other-woodland-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":52534,"position":2},"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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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Mountain Bluebird at a Northern Flicker nesting cavity, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-mia-mcpherson-6127.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-mia-mcpherson-6127.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-mia-mcpherson-6127.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-mia-mcpherson-6127.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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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, 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