![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/western-bluebird-5670-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-bluebird-5670-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nWhen I visit Red Rock Lakes NWR in Montana’s Centennial Valley I can’t resist photographing Mountain Bluebirds at their nest boxes. So four days ago I made the long drive on rough roads from my campsite to the far east end of the valley with bluebird photos as my primary goal.<\/p>\n
This particular bluebird pair still has me a little confused. They took turns flying in to land on top of the post supporting their nest box and then from there entering the box but they were never carrying nesting material, or food for youngsters, and they never emerged from the box with fecal sacs. And they stayed in the nest box only briefly. So I don’t know why both of them were making repeated trips to their presumed nest inside the box. But that’s a mystery for another day.<\/p>\n
The bird that was already on top of the pole supporting the box always spotted its mate flying in and left the pole or box before its mate landed in the same place.<\/p>\n
Except for one time.<\/p>\n
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1\/5300, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This time the male obviously knew his mate was coming in (even I had spotted her approaching) but he didn’t leave the post before she arrived. So she landed there anyway, which forced him into flight, effectively displacing him from his perch. And I happened to catch the action. I clipped his wings and he’s soft, but she’s sharp and in this case I think she’s the most important of the two to get sharp.<\/p>\n I like the action, the behavior and the photo.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Including some behavior I don’t understand.<\/p>\n