Family: Turdidae
Thrushes and their allies are elegant songsters, they are usually long-legged with short, blunt tipped bills. They feed on insects, worms, snails and fruits. Some thrushes are brightly colored like bluebirds and Varied Thrushes and some are dull in coloration such as Townsend’s Solitaires and Gray-cheeked Thrushes. They can be found in many different habitats.
Two years ago today I was in the Targhee National Forest of Clark County, Idaho photographing birds at what I called the "Magical Sapsucker Tree".
The gray skies are getting old and I'm suffering from cabin fever and wishing for some bright bluebird skies to get out to photograph birds and to be able to relax and soak in nature.
This photo of a male Mountain Bluebird in Wayne County, Utah made me smile when I thought about the location where it was created because it is so wild and beautiful up there.
Wow, today is the last day of the year 2016. This is my photographic year in review from Utah, Idaho and Montana!
I was also delighted to photograph this juvenile Mountain Bluebird on the way to Gravelly Range early in the morning.
I was trying to photograph flickers, wrens and sapsuckers in the Targhee National Forest of Idaho earlier this month when the American Robin in the photo above appeared and softly called.
These images from different times of the year show Mountain Bluebird plumage development stages from not long after fledging to adulthood.
Seeing these uncommon Western Bluebirds in Tooele County in the Stansbury Mountain Range yesterday is part of why I love bird photography so much.
This young Mountain Bluebird chick was photographed last summer at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana.
Burrowing Owls and American Robins are about the same size but they are two very different species of birds.
In early May I found this American Robin perched near Modoc Creek, Idaho and I liked the simplicity of of the background and the robin's pose.
Well, it was another fun morning at the Magical Sapsucker Tree and today the cast was joined by a pair of Mountain Bluebirds who seem dead set on taking over the Northern Flicker cavity.
I was stunned and amazed to find not just one Greater Sage-Grouse leks but TWO!
Yesterday while looking for birds to photograph I was enchanted by this Mercur Canyon Mountain Bluebird male while in Tooele County, Utah.
Personally, I love to see American Robins any time of the year and to watch them searching for prey. Common? Yes, but delightful too.
Some times when I am photographing I capture my subjects in funny poses and I think I did exactly that with this Mountain Bluebird female.
Last month and this month I wrote about Mountain Bluebirds in several posts that included images of adult males and females, today I am posting one image of the many fledglings I saw last week.
I want to thank Neil Paprocki for sharing information about Al Larson and the upcoming film The Bluebird Man, I have learned a lot from the web site and through my interview with Neil and I am all for learning more about the wonderful natural world around me.
Yesterday my post focused on female Mountain Bluebirds and today I am presenting males in honor of Father's Day. I was blessed to have two fathers, one who died when I was very young and later in my second Dad came into my life.
There were Mountain Bluebirds everywhere I looked on my recent trip to Montana where flashes of their brilliant blue plumage were a delight to my eyes.
Last week I was Thinking Pink so this week I thought I would focus on the shades of blues found in wildflowers, birds, the sky and seas.
Seeing the word "Montana" so often has gotten me anxious, antsy and itching to head north soon to see more of a state that beckons to me because I have fallen in love with it.
How blue can blue be? I think Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoide) males are a wonderful example of just how blue a bird can be.
I can take advantage of the sucker holes by photographing birds close to home when the sun breaks through the clouds.
American Robin juvenile photographed in my backyard in Utah as it perched above the grass. Robins are the largest and most abundant North American thrushes.