For the past month I haven’t been seeing the Mountain Bluebirds up in the canyon that I have been photographing infrequently this summer but yesterday I saw one juvenile and took a few long distance images of it.
Juvenile Mountain Bluebird perched on sagebrush – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
The last time I did see Mountain Bluebirds in the canyon the adults were still feeding the young bluebirds and watching after them as their chicks learned to find prey by themselves. This juvenile Mountain Bluebird was hunting for food its own, perching on sagebrush and then diving to the ground after prey.
I did take a few shots where the young bluebird was closer to me but the bird was in the shade of the mountains to the east and most of the time in those photos there was grass in front of the bird, my best photos of it showed the bluebird small in the frame.
Sagebrush and a young Mountain Bluebird – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
It is dry up in the mountain canyon and it appears to be much drier than it was last year at this time of the summer. I can see that by the condition this sagebrush is in, what should be a soft silvery gray-green is mostly brown now. Normally I wouldn’t have processed this image because the juvenile Mountain Bluebird kind of gets lost in the foliage but I was struck by how brown and crispy looking the sagebrush is.
I wish I could have gotten more images of this juvenile Mountain Bluebird where it was closer and in the sunlight but some people walking their dogs went past and this young bird took off.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Mountain Bluebird photos plus facts and information about this species.
Nice little juvenile! Seeing the Mountain Bluebird makes me homesick for New Mexico. The blue of the adult is so unique. The sagebrush grew in the more open high plains. I just loved crushing it in my fingers to take in the smell.It always looked so gray-green but I never saw it turn brown.
Such a beauty. Though the crispiness of the sagebrush is worrying.
Love the subtle beauty of bird and vegetation…serene. Cc
We have fires burning up and down the state and there are still people who don’t get it! Hopefully, this juvvie will have a long and happy life.
Climate change! Scary!! Even in southern Ontario we are tinder dry.