![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/mountain-bluebird-6356-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"mountain-bluebird-6356-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nPlus an adult male ‘wearing to dark’.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Three days ago while slowly cruising a dirt road in the mountains I encountered a male Mountain Bluebird on a far-off sagebrush (this isn’t him). I thought he was too distant for quality photos but I stopped to watch him on the chance he’d come in closer. It soon became apparent that he had 4-5 fairly recent fledglings in tow and the entire tribe was badgering him for food.<\/p>\n This is one of those hungry juveniles anticipating a meal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Eventually all of them came in closer to the road as they followed the foraging adult.<\/p>\n Notice how clearly the signature gape of a young bird can be seen in these first three photos.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Here’s another youngster perched on an old sage stump.<\/p>\n Occasionally the juveniles appeared to be hunting for insects on their own but I had the distinct impression they were usually unsuccessful at their tender age. Mostly they just followed the male around as he foraged for them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This is the hard working male parent. He’s pretty scruffy looking after the rigors of raising at least four chicks and he may also be molting but he also appears to be ‘wearing to dark’. He’s lost that almost uniform soft blue appearance and now shows splotchy grays and blacks.<\/p>\n I’ve documented and explained ‘wearing to dark’ in some detail in a previous post so I won’t do it again here but if you have the interest here’s a link to that post<\/a><\/span><\/span>. If you follow the link I suggest you read Dan Gleason’s interesting and very enlightening comment about ‘wearing to dark’ in other species, including starlings and crossbills.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n For some perspective on the relationship between the adult male and the juveniles here’s a different crop of the previous photo.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is what an adult male Mountain Bluebird in breeding plumage looks like before<\/em> he’s become worn to dark. The contrast is quite dramatic.<\/p>\n I don’t remember seeing the adult female and I never did get any photos of the male actually feeding one of the juveniles. Since the youngsters were almost constantly following the foraging male rather than staying in one place and waiting to be fed that type of shot was harder to get than one might think.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Plus an adult male ‘wearing to dark’.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/mountain-bluebird-6340-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"mountain-bluebird-6340-ron-dudley\\"")
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