{"id":74484,"date":"2020-10-08T05:27:13","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T11:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=74484"},"modified":"2025-05-19T14:31:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T19:31:13","slug":"male-mountain-bluebird-glowing-in-early-morning-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/08\/male-mountain-bluebird-glowing-in-early-morning-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Mountain Bluebird Glowing In Early Morning Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult male Mountain Bluebird in the foothills of West Desert mountains \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this week I saw a few bluebirds in the foothills of the Stansbury Mountains and they reminded me of some photos I had taken of a male Mountain Bluebird last month in about the same location.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Both the male and female Mountain Bluebirds tend to look a little worn after the breeding season. Before migration adult Mountain Bluebirds molt so their feathers are in good condition for their journey to warmer climates. This male bluebird had nearly finished molting when I photographed him.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t able to photograph the Mountain Bluebirds I saw last week because they were far away and skittish so my photos of this male might be the last images I will take of these sky blue thrushes this year. Some of the Mountain Bluebirds have already taken wing and the rest will soon leave on migration.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed photographing all of the Mountain Bluebirds that I found this year and look forward to more great times with them next spring.<\/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":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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":""},"categories":[27,1369,1316,358,26,1314],"tags":[4004,5933,4880,6692,7017,4062,228,4069,4104,4339,3844,4881,9048],"class_list":["post-74484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-mountain-bluebirds","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-adult","tag-bluebird","tag-bluebirds","tag-early-morning-light","tag-foothills","tag-male","tag-mountain-bluebird","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-sialia-currucoides","tag-thrush","tag-thrushes","tag-twigs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-west-desert-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0499.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jnm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36293,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/25\/headed-west-yesterday-western-bluebirds-in-tooele-county\/","url_meta":{"origin":74484,"position":0},"title":"Western Bluebirds in Tooele County, Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Seeing these uncommon Western Bluebirds in Tooele County in the Stansbury Mountain Range yesterday is part of why I love bird photography so much.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched 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, 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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":74484,"position":2},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/mountain-bluebird-shadow-stick-mia-mcpherson-7622.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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":52687,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/06\/20\/focusing-on-photographing-juvenile-mountain-bluebirds\/","url_meta":{"origin":74484,"position":4},"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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