Geography/Habitat:

The Mountain Bluebird, (Sialia corrucoides), was first described by Bechstein, a German naturalist in 1798. The Mountain Bluebird is monotypic.

Mountain Bluebirds are found in the West of North America breeding as far North as Western Canada and Alaska and throughout the Northwestern US. They Winter from West Texas to California down into Western Mexico. Note they do wander to the East and have been found in the North East and throughout Central America including most of Texas

Mountain Bluebirds prefer high elevation meadows with scattered trees and bushes often as high as the tundra line. In Winter they move lower and like open woodlands and evergreen forests, plains and grasslands.

Mountain Bluebirds nest in tree cavities lining the hole with grass and other plant fiber. Nesting season is from April to June and typically 1 to 2 clutches of 4-8 bluish eggs are laid. Incubation lasts for fourteen days and is carried out by the female with the hatchlings fledging eighteen days later and being fed by the parents for 3-4 weeks.

In Summer Mountain Bluebirds are insectivorous eating beetles grasshoppers and occasionally spiders etc. In Winter they move to a mostly fruit diet. Note that they will hover for food and do forage on the ground.

Identification

The male Mountain Bluebird is a distinctive overall sky-blue with a black bill, a white belly and undertail coverts and black tipped primaries. The females are more variable with some being a drab version of the male and others being more rufous on the breast. Juvenile birds are like drab males but with a mottled gray breast a white eye ring and a light-colored beak.

The Mountain Bluebirds call is a “tru-lee, phew” and the song a soft melodious warble. 

Interesting Facts

·   Mountain bluebirds often hover to feed

·   Mountain bluebird is the state bird of both Idaho and Nevada

·    A group of thrushes are known as a hermitage or a mutation