Mountain Bluebird

Latin name; Sialia Currucoide.
Common name; Mountain Bluebird.


Description
• Length 6 ½- 8in.
• Wing span 12 in.
• Color; males are a turquoise blue with a ‘lighter breast and a white belly. Females are a grayish/brown with a trace of blue on the wings, rump and tail. She stands more erect than female Eastern or Western Bluebirds. The young are brown with spots or streaks below; they have a pale blue wash on their wings and tails.

• Habitat; from southern Alaska to northern Mexico, from California to the mid-west. They live where forest meadows and pastures meet; open grassy areas with a few scattered conifer trees.

• The nests are placed in cliffs, or nest boxes but usually in a cavity in a trunk of a tree; these are usually old woodpecker dens. The nests are made of grass and are lined with feathers or wood chips.

• The Mountain Bluebird lays4-6 green/blue eggs in a nest. In the north it nests in lower elevation woods. In the south it nests in sub line forests, alpine meadows, aspen groves or mountain woodlands.


Food
The Mountain Bluebird eats more insects than the Eastern or Western Bluebirds. It hunts by hovering over the ground and then darts at it’s pray. Or it darts from branch to branch catching bugs in flight. It also eats some seeds and berries.


Notes
It sings in the morning in a sort of warbling song. It makes a sort of chur or tew call also. It is Nevada’s, and Idaho’s, state bird. It is in the thrush family.