ML49407891
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Unknown age, Male - X
- Playback
- Playback not used
Observation details
*seems early. Stopped when I saw a bird fly across the road in front of me and perch on the fence. I was expecting it to be a Townsend's Solitaire or a shrike, but it was smaller than a TOSO and had bluish primaries. I was hearing "pew" calls from elsewhere, which I also recognized as belonging to bluebirds, though I wasn't sure which species. I saw 7 bluebirds in all. Two were males, with bright blue heads and rufous-brown breast and flanks. The males were clearly Western Bluebirds - I checked that both of them had blue extending down to the throat, instead of a rufous throat like the Eastern Bluebird - and I didn't look at the females as closely, since the birds were all in a loose flock and I assumed they were all one species. Looking at my Sibley book now, I am sure that the females had more contrast below than the rufous female Mountain Bluebird, which appears to have rufous coloration on its breast blending gently into gray flanks and grayish-white belly. I noted in the field that the females I saw had rusty flanks as well as breast, and I'm sure that the contrast between rufous flanks/breast and off-white belly was more pronounced than on female MOBL. Although the birds were moving around some, I am certain that I noted these details on at least 4 of the 5 females. I got a great look at one of them, perched across the road from me on a fencepost. She had a white eyering, most prominent behind the eye; gray head; paler chin; rusty breast and flanks; and off-white belly. Also took notes on one of the males, again perched across the road on a fencepost. He had an all-blue head; rusty-brown scapulars; bright blue in the wing; off-white belly, and rusty flanks and breast. At one point, one of the males was perched on the power line, and seemed to be singing. I got a recording. In general, the bluebirds were perching on wires, fenceposts, and trees, flitting down to the ground, and then flying back up. At the end of the count, all 7 flew off to the southeast, and 6 of them perched in a small Ponderosa Pine.
Technical information
- Recorder
- TASCAM DR-05
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 9.09 MB