This post is  a Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year post all wrapped up into one!  In celebration of the holidays, I will look at Western Bluebirds, and delve into how the various species of blue birds throughout our world have come to be associated with the spirit of peace, hope, and happiness over thousands of years. But first, a callout to the park where I shot most of these photos in recent days.

Agua Caliente Park is a Pima County park on the far east side of Tucson in the Tanque Verde Valley. For more on the park and prior posts see Mt Lemmon AZ Images Search: Agua Caliente. 

The park has recently benefited from a series of restorations: First the ponds, then areas of fire damage from a lightening strike in 2022. Below on the left, a view of the new bridge to a small island on the restored Pond 1, nearest the ranch house and parking lot.  Below to the right, Pond 1 looking southwest from the island. A great place for egrets and herons, with occasional Harris's Hawks flying through looking for lunch! 

Below are images of Pond 2, a short walk west from Pond 1. The photograph on the left is a view toward the Catalina Mountains, and to the right a view looking west. Pond 2 has a lot of Mesquite Trees around it that fortunately (for the birds) are parasitized by Mistletoe, a great source of berries in the winter. It is here that I recently found dozens of Western Bluebirds feeding on berries. 

The Western Bluebird above and below is likely an immature male, with blue on the throat and head mixed with some paler feathers. In December we may see a lot of immature birds, less than  a year old, with indeterminate plumage, as well as typical males and females.

The bird below is likely a juvenile female with some blue on the head but a gray throat. 

Below, a more typical mature female with a gray head. 

In the flight sequence that follows we can see the gray head and undersurface of the wings. The gray will look slightly blue in some light.

In the images above and below, there is some some hint of blue on the dorsal wing feathers, with a flash of blue on the tail.

During my limited time observing WEBL's at Agua Caliente over 3 days, I noticed that they would take flight to move to new sections of a tree, rather than the progressive hopping common among warblers.  The bird in this sequence has relocated to a higher part of this mesquite. 

For reference, below are a male and a female Western Bluebird photographed in central Tucson on December 6, 2022. This side to side comparison clearly shows the differences in coloration of the mature male vs. the female. 

In bright light, a male WEBL is a startling blue!  Below, a male on Mt. Lemmon staking out his claim, April 28, 2024. April is the peak of their breeding season and he may have a nest nearby. 

Birds do not have blue pigment in their feathers. Instead, structural properties of the feathers make them blue. The Western Bluebird's blue feathers have a spongy matrix of microscopic air pockets. These pockets or channels are at a fixed standard distance to each other so that light waves reflected off of the pockets will reinforce for the blue spectrum, and cancel out other wavelengths. The feather will look blue from any angle of reflected light, but if held up to transmitted light it will look gray.  (Ref: David Allen Sibley, What It's Like to be a Bird, Knopf, N.Y., 2020, p.133)

The image below is of a mature female at Rose Canyon Lake,  May 14, 2020.  She likely has a nest near by. 

Below, a female Western Bluebird close to Loma Linda Extension Road in Summerhaven, June 19, 2022. She may be wet from a morning bath in the creek! 

Below, on the same day and location, a female feeding her hatchlings. We can see blue on her flight and tail feathers.

The photograph below is a juvenile with spotting on the back and streaking on the breast, captured on Incinerator Ridge, on Mt Lemmon, July 10, 2016.  In Arizona nest building is in April, fledging is in late May to mid-June. This is likely a recent fledgling. (Ref: Birds of the World). 

In the summer Western Bluebirds eat mostly insects, but in the winter switch to fruit and seeds. One of their winter staples are the berries of mistletoe, an evergreen shrub that grows in clumps and balls on trees which the mistletoe parasitize for water and nutrients. Because mistletoe is considered a pest, many homeowners will remove the plant from trees, decreasing food availability for birds, including Western Bluebirds and Phainopepla. However, at Agua Caliente the mistletoe persists and makes a great December buffet!  

Above, two Western Bluebirds literally "hang-out" on mistletoe at eye-level adjacent to one of the paved paths next to Pond 2. The bird on the right is clearly a mature male, the one on the left probably a juvenile male or female. 

In the images above and below, a male Western Bluebird grabs a mistletoe berry and scarfs it down! 

In the series below a Western Bluebird puts on a show while grabbing a berry.  In the last two frames the variation in color on the flight feathers may be due to the difference between reflected and transmitted light. Where the feathers overlap there is less transmission and more reflection, creating a deeper blue. 

Blue birds have been associated with hope and happiness in myth and folklore dating back to the Shang dynasty, 1766-1122 BC, in pre-modern China (Ref: Wikipedia, Blue Bird of happiness). In Native American Folklore, the blue bird is considered a spirit in animal form, associated with the rising sun. In Russian fairy tales the blue bird is a symbol of hope.  The "blue bird of happiness" features in Lorraine (a region of NE France) folklore, inspiring stories, plays,  novels, and at least seven films between 1910 and 2002.

The list of references to bluebirds in modern popular culture includes the Wizard of Oz ("Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly"),  the Beatles Yellow Submarine (the chief blue meanie claims his "cousin is the bluebird of happiness"),  the Allman Brother Band's song Blue Sky, ("Don't fly, mister blue bird, I'm just walking down the road"), and in a cartoon from Gary Larson, (the [absent] bluebird of happiness is mentioned as counterpart of the "chicken of depression.")  For much, much more, see Wikipedia, Bluebird of happiness. 

So, may the Western Bluebird, and in fact all blue birds, be your companions in 2025, bringing you peace and well being throughout the year! 

Special thanks to Jeff Babson for his help in identifying the sexes of this mix of winter birds!  Greatly appreciated! 

That's all for now!
​Stay safe and stay well.

​More soon! 

Last month was the 9th anniversary of this blog. OMG!  I wrote the first post on November 8, 2015, just a few lines to test the posting process. The first real post was on November 10th on White Water Draw (WWD). On that trip I was fortunate to see a Northern Harrier cruising for critters over the fields right in front of me, photograph above. I got a good view of the harrier's bill, eye markings, and facial disk, an anatomic feature similar to the owl's, which focuses  remote sounds into the bird's ears. 

I have been back to WWD numerous times since, my last visit was on a trek with Club Camera Tucson* on November 21st. Below and to the right is a map of WWD from Adobe Lightroom showing the spots where I shot most of the images (orange and yellow squares). 

*For the photo/camera geeks: this is a great club, nice people, fun stuff to share and do. Check out the website. 

The photograph at the top left and the one below it were shot from the "32 Orange Square" on the map, looking to the west. North is at the top of the map. As of November 21st there was no water in any of the areas inside the built walkway boundry. In past years these ponds have been full, providing habitat for water birds and a better environment for songbirds in the area. There is water to the north of walkway, "594 Orange Square," photograph lower right. The Sandhill Cranes are roosting in this northern pond to the far east, and far west. Flycatchers were working their routes over the water. There were a few ducks.

The big show on the 21st was a female Northern Harrier cruising over the fields to the north and east, then zooming right in front of the viewing deck on the north side, to cruise some more to the north and west, then work her way south and back east. The sun was in the east and south early on, then worked its way west, but stayed to the south, creating better photographic opportunities during her flight on the northern side of the trail. 

In the image above she is flying to the east of the eastern trail, facing the sun, and looking for prey in the fields below. Here facial disk is evident.

She cruised over the eastern fields for about  20-30 minutes, then decided to fly west, making a close pass in front of the observation deck where I was standing. I was shooting at 700mm and literally had less than 2 seconds to try to track her as she came in very close flying right to left.

​The frame above is one of the better ones, showing her hooked bill, white markings above and below the eye, and a hint of the facial disk characteristic of the Northern Harriers. If  you look closely at the edge of her mouth I think you will see a small white feather, likely a remnant of her last meal. 

Northern Harriers are in the family Accipitridae: hawks, eagles and kites. Harriers are most similar to Rough-legged Hawks, Cooper's Hawks and American Goshawks but are unique in their family for the predilection to hover low over their prey.  ​

In the image above she is cruising over the fields to the west with the mountains in the background. The sun is to the left of the frame, lighting up her face.  

Below, she has come around flying toward me. She has two white eyebrows clearly visible as she looks down at 90 degrees looking and listening for ground mammals, as well as other birds including meadowlarks, Northern Cardinals and sparrows, all part of her winter diet.

Below, it looks like she has spotted or heard something (someone?) and begins a hover. 

Harriers don't soar and dive, nor do they take prey on the wing, rather they hover over the fields looking and listening. Above, the image shows her feather pattern and white rump. Below, she is hovering, looking straight down.

Above and below, she has heard/spotted something, and stays focused. 

She bends her neck way down, and slowly descends, maintaining the hover. One can see the horizon getting lower from frame to frame. 

Lower, lower . . . . 
​
In the image below one can see her alula clearly on the left wing. The alula, also known as the "bastard thumb," is a small group of feathers that grow from the bird's equivalent of our thumb, at the junction of the fused hand bones and the ulna/radius. It can be deployed like slats on an airplane, to break up the airflow and improve lift at slow speeds. It is common to see the alula deployed as large birds land. 

Her tail is fanned and she is working her large wings to maintain the hover as she gets lower . . .

And finally lands in the grass! 

No post on White Water Draw would be complete without at least one picture of Sandhill Cranes!  Yes, the cranes are back at WWD, foraging out in the fields each morning, coming back around noon, making a noisy ruckus and landing. Above from November 21st, likely a family of four coming in for a landing. My guess is that mom and dad are leading, with two juveniles from this past summer's breeding right behind them. Sandhill Cranes mate for life, and families stay together for some time, migrating, feeding and roosting together. 

That's all for now!  More soon.
Happy trails!