A Bluebird Winter

(click on a photo to enlarge)

This has turned into the winter of the bluebird. Even lowland areas such as downtown Tucson are reporting flocks of Western Bluebirds. If I drive to the old water tanks along the Forest Road in the nearby Coronado National Forest, I never fail to find many Western Bluebirds at the seepage from the tanks.

Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) Flock at the Water Tanks

I spotted ours in late October and since then we’ve had them coming for water almost daily. A beautiful flock of seven Western Bluebirds.

Western Bluebirds Tanking Up

No, wait. Make that six Westerns and one female Mountain Bluebird. How did she get in there?

Female Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides)

One morning, early on, she arrived before sunrise with a beautiful male, but they left before I could take photos. I wondered if I’d see the male again and I didn’t.

The flock would fly in and land on the dead agave stalks we put up for perches. We have lots of Palmer’s Agave up here and the dead flower stalks make wonderful bird perches, especially when tall trees are at a premium, in fact, non-existent.

Western Bluebirds on Agave Stalk

One morning as I was driving out of the Ranch, I passed a dry wash with many large junipers (Juniperus monoensis). Those juniper-laden washes have always fascinated me and I plan to walk the largest one but haven’t yet done so. I noticed lots of bluebirds in the trees and was pleased to note that all of the bluebirds I was seeing (a flock of about 60 birds) were Mountain Bluebirds (Sialia currucoides)! Next morning, bright and early, I was in that wash, camera and binoculars in hand.

The junipers were laden with berries and the bluebirds were eagerly scarfing them up.

Male Mountain Bluebird with Juniper Berry

Male Mountain Bluebird

My two favorite photos of male Mountain Bluebirds showing off their stunning turquoise colors.

Naturally I had to return to this spot several more times, and each time I was rewarded with stellar views of the feeding bluebird flock accompanied by a single Sage Thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus) who, on my first visit, hopped right on the roof of my car while I was still sitting in it! Since there was no apparent water around for miles, I got the bright idea to bring a plant saucer and fill it with water. I set it under a juniper, camouflaged the saucer with some rocks and sat and waited for the bluebirds to come down for a drink. Some did but what I did not expect was within a few minutes of placing the water dish, other species also came in for water. Species that I hadn’t seen in the wash before.

First to find the water was a Northern Cardinal.

Male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

Male Mountain Bluebird (note the water dribbling down his chin!)

Sage Thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus)

Crissal Thrasher (Toxostoma crissale)

Crissal Thrashers, by the way, have become exceedingly common here this winter. We also have one at our feeding station and I see one or more on most days when I go birding up here in the Dragoons.

Published by Arlene Ripley on January 16th, 2010 Tagged Arizona, Birds, Bluebirds, Cochise County, Nature

Copyright © Arlene Ripley | Theme template Earthy by MandarinMusing and Headsetoptions