Mountain Bluebird

The winds and high temperatures have made winter activities like skiing seem impossible, so today I drove south to get a taste of spring.   Red Mountain Open Space, a protected area near the Colorado/Wyoming border, has a variety of trails through canyons and grasslands.  Just dropping a thousand feet or so from Laramie leads to a huge change in the environment.  Today I saw numerous different birds, animals, and even a hint of spring in the vegetation--not to mention temperatures that rose into the 50s--even though I wasn't that far from home.

One of the species I saw today was the mountain bluebird, Sialia currucoides.  These brilliant blue birds are strikingly noticeable and very pretty.

The females, like many bird species, are less colorful and blend into the still mostly brown vegetation a little better.  Although there were probably numerous females around today, I only noticed this one, as opposed to the six or seven bright blue males I saw.

If you look closely at the next picture, you can see four male bluebirds perched on the yucca.  I think they must be migrating together.  They did not want me to get too close to them, moving off to further bunches of yucca whenever I crept closer, but they were cool to watch.

According to whatbird.com, this species is the state bird of both Nevada and Idaho.  92% of their diet is made up of insects, and they can hover in the air in order to capture their prey.   Whether of not they are true 'bluebirds of happiness', seeing them today greatly improved my mood!