Thursday, October 2, 2014

Crops & Clips: Bluebirds on good and bad fences

My weekly potpourri gathered from the archives features... bluebirds and more bluebirds!

CRITTER: Guess?

North American bluebirds come in three "flavors." Each one is a sweet as the others

Western Bluebird digiscoped in our front yard, Cedar Crest, New Mexico in November, 2003 

Western Bluebird Male

Note the all-blue head and throat of the Western Bluebird, in Grand Canyon, Arizona, June 17, 2013

Western Bluebird 20130617

The Mountain Bluebird is an unforgettable shade of blue, seen at YMCA of the Rockies, Estes Park, Colorado on June 17, 2010

Mountain Bluebird 20100617

Mountain Bluebird, Estes Park, Colorado on June 14, 2010

Mountain Bluebird 20100614

The third species of bluebird ranges in the eastern US and is appropriately known as the Eastern Bluebird, this one photographed in Batavia, Illinois on April 19, 2010

Eastern Bluebird 20100419

"Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" may be a discredited theory, but the spotted breast of a fledgling Western Bluebird bears evidence of its relationship to other members of the thrush family, in Grand Canyon, Arizona, June 19, 2013

Western Bluebird feeding sequence 2-20130619

This particular Eastern Bluebird has a story to tell, aside from the fact that she is bringing dinner to a fledgling hidden in the bushes under this wire, in Saint Charles, Illinois, June 22, 2012.

Eastern Bluebird 20120622


Although she symbolizes the bluebird of happiness and the freedom of flight, her perch overlooks a fence that is particularly good or bad, depending upon whether you are looking in or out. Those inside can only dream of flight. 

The Illinois Youth Center is a medium security correctional facility. On the "good" side is the beautiful Hickory Knolls Discovery Center, a nature center and preserve full of old growth hardwoods.

Correctional Facility 20130825

Mountain Bluebird, female on a "Good Fence," 
Buffalo Lake NWR, Canyon, Texas on November 12, 2008

MountainBluebird2 Female20081112


Linking to CAMERA CRITTERS,

Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

and 

GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa). 

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SKYWATCH: Blue on blue

I just realized that all my bluebirds enjoyed blue skies with nary a cloud, so forgive me for showing such a boring sky.

Mountain Bluebirds in Canyon, Texas, November 12, 2008

Mountain Bluebirds Two In Tree 20081112

This week I tried again but there were no clouds at all--

Eastern Bluebird male, Nelson Lake, Batavia Illinois October 1, 2014

Eastern Bluebird male 2-20141001

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY 

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REFLECTIONS: Poor

In adherence to our theme, I tried to find some bluebird reflections in my archives. The running water of our backyard fountain in New Mexico distorted them, but also produced some of my favorite bluebird photos.

Like the first picture on this post, they were taken from inside the windows of our home with a tiny Canon PowerShot A-40 with a 2 MP sensor (yes, you have that right, only TWO megapixels!) shooting at 3x optical zoom through the eyepiece of a Kowa 70mm scope zoomed down to 20x. Note that this technique causes natural vignetting of the edges of the photos. See my primitive digiscoping rig at this link.

Western Bluebirds, Cedar Crest, New Mexico, February, 2003

Western Bluebird female FEB03

Western Bluebird male FEB03


Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS 

22 comments:

  1. love all your blues! that mountain bluebird is just brilliant. thanks, in advance, for linking in with the fencery!

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  2. Oh, what a lovely idea, showing the different varieties, over the years! Such wonderful photos! They are all beautiful! And a great fence, too!

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  3. HI Kenneth What a selection of different Bluebirds to show us, I never realised there were so many. Love the 4th photograph and the vivid blue of the Mountain Bluebird is amazing.

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  4. Sweet post filled with those delightful varieties of Bluebirds. The one with the red breast looks a bit like a robin but of course robins don't have blue heads. I like the really blue one. Sad about the fence shot but necessary for where it's at.

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  5. It's a great post. Very nice assortment of bluebird pictures. It's good on both sides of the fence if bluebirds are present!

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  6. Great to so many species of bluebirds; wonderful photos.

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  7. Oh, wow, wonderful series...love those reflective ones...

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  8. Wow, the Mountain Bluebird is sensational. I've only seen the Eastern. I need to get out more!

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  9. Very lovely birds. Each one of them are very cute.

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  10. What a wonderful series on "The Blues"! In my opinion, a beautiful blue sky could never be boring! And you decorated them all so well with superb images of birds!

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  11. Wow - what beautiful bird shots.

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  12. That is very pretty presentation of this little guy... The color of its feathers are stunning ! And the reflection is perfect ; nice work !

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  13. Wonderful series! They are all equally beautiful and I am envious that you have so many good shots of each of them. We've spent quite a bit of time in Colorado, but have never seen the Mountain Bluebird -- will try to remedy that on our next visit w/ our kids there.

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  14. Wonderful series of nature's beautiful bird photos!

    Happy Weekend ~
    artmusedog and carol (A Creative Harbor)

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  15. I love all the pretty bluebirds! Gorgeous series of images.. Thank you for linking up, have a happy weekend!

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  16. Beautiful photos of the birds!!

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  17. Wonderful birds! The different shades of blue are very pretty.

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  18. Love the soft reflections of the blue bird drinking from the little puddle.

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  19. What a wonderful series, illustrating the different bluebird families. They are all beautiful birds.

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  20. I love all the different kinds of bluebirds. I have to admit that I haven't seen many bluebirds yet. It's special when I see one - the Western kind in this case. The more did I enjoy your photos!

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  21. I have never seen a blue bird ! Beautiful pictures !

    http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com/

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