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Biology 250
Male Mountain Bluebirds are sky-blue, a bit darker on wings and tail and a bit paler below, with white under the tail.
Description
Mountain Bluebirds are fairly small thrushes with round heads and straight, thin bills. Compared with other bluebirds they are lanky and long-winged, with a long tail. They occasionally show a suffusion of orange-brown on the chest. Mountain Bluebirds’ bills are entirely black. Juveniles have fewer spots than the young of other bluebirds.
Behavior
Unlike other bluebird species, Mountain Bluebirds often hover while foraging; they also pounce on their insect prey from an elevated perch. In winter, the species often occurs in large flocks wandering the landscape feasting on berries, particularly those of junipers.
Silalia currucoides
Mountain Bluebird
Habitat
Mountain Bluebirds are common in the West’s wide-open spaces, particularly at middle and higher elevations. They breed in native habitats such as prairie, sagebrush steppe, and even alpine tundra; anywhere with open country with at least a few trees that can provide nest cavities. They also readily take to human-altered habitats, often nesting in bluebird boxes and foraging in pastures.
Diet
Mountain Bluebirds eat mostly insects, especially during breeding season. Beetles, grasshoppers, and especially caterpillars top the menu. In winter they go after small fruits, seeds, and insects when available. Commonly eaten plant items include grapes, currants, elderberries, cedar berries, and the seeds of sumac, mistletoe, and hackberry. Spiders are also an important part of the adult diet. Nestlings are fed primarily beetles and grasshoppers
Females are mostly gray-brown with tinges of pale blue in the wings and tail.
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