Mountain Bluebirds on the California Prairie

I've had some pleasant finds of late on our birding journeys of late. We ventured out on Monday to the prairies that lie east of our town in the Great Valley. We ended up on Willm's Road near Knight's Ferry on the Stanislaus. There were quite a few birds out, but have I ever mentioned that blue is my favorite color? I saw a flash of blue on the fenceposts in the distance and realized I was seeing a Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) for the first time in my county. I've seen them only twice before, once in Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park, and last summer in Mesa Verde National Park.

These are some of the most beautiful birds there are, but their habitat is locally under siege. They prefer woodlands at the edge of the prairie, the trees providing nesting sites, and the prairie providing the insects that they eat. But the prairies out here are being converted to almond orchards at a furious rate. There are lots of difficult issues involved here, but it seems a shame to be losing so much of one of California's unique and rare environments and the animals that live there.

Mrs. Geotripper caught this shot of the Mountain Bluebird giving us "the look".

Mountain Bluebirds at Mesa Verde National Park (with bonus babies!)

I love the color blue, and I really can't resist that color in birds. Scrub Jays, Great Blue Herons, Western Bluebirds, Stellar's Jays, I love them all. There's one that is common enough, but I'm not in the right place to see them often, so it feels special when I get the chance. It's the Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides). They've been seen tantalizingly close to my stretch of the Tuolumne River, but I've only seen them up in the mountains, specifically in Tuolumne Meadows.

These birds were hanging out two weeks ago in our campsite at Morefield Village in Mesa Verde National Park. I recognized them as fledgling bluebirds but I was not sure of which kind until I saw them chasing poppa around the campsite (the females are far less colorful). I didn't get a shot of their faces, but I did get this one shot of parent and baby together.

Mesa Verde National Park is famous for the ruins of the Ancestral Puebloan people that are common in the alcoves and mesa tops. The protection of the archaeological resources actually provides for the protection of the bird life and other animals as well, since people are not allowed to roam freely around the park. They are allowed only in specific areas leaving large parts of the ecosystem intact and undisturbed (aside from the all-too-often wildfires).

Mountain Bluebirds Building Nests in Tuolumne Meadows at Yosemite

I've never claimed to be the most successful birding enthusiast around. I'm still seeing common birds for the first time. Case in point: today was the first time I've seen a Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides). I've seen their valley cousins, the Western Bluebirds, hundreds of times now, but this was the first time for these brightly colored Sierra Nevada residents.

We were on the last day of our nearly two-week excursion across the southwest, and we came home via Tioga Pass and Yosemite National Park. We stopped at Tuolumne Meadows to take in the beautiful scenery when I saw something blue rustling through the grass. It was a bluebird, actually two of them, male and female, and it looked like they we picking up nesting materials. They were moving fast, so I only got a few blurry shots, especially of the female.The fact that her beak was full of grass strands is what told me they were doing nest preparations.

They both suddenly flew up into the tree overhead and I searched until I found the crevice far above that they were using for a nest. The Mountain Bluebirds nest in tree cavities, but they don't carve them. They usually take over abandoned woodpecker holes, and as such are in competition with Tree Swallows.

I've always been partial to the color blue, and hope that now that I've seen a pair of the Mountain Bluebirds that there will be many more! It's always a good excuse to head up into Yosemite in any case.