Pretty little lady

A beautiful female Mountain Bluebird, seen along one of the gravel backroads SW of Calgary, on 24 May 2010. Another photo from my archives that I had put aside a few weeks ago - before my arms became extremely painful from too much mouse-clicking. Today, at least I will get a break for a while, as I have to find a few things to do away from home. They are going to be cleaning and removing all the loose gravel from my parking lot sometime during the day and so everyone has to move their car to the street before 9:00 a.m.. However, I discovered at the Annual Meeting a few days ago that one has to have a special parking pass in order to park on the street now. Well, after three phone calls yesterday and getting no help from anyone in Byelaw, I gave up and so will have to stay away from home for the day. Unfortunately, it is a gloomy day with more rain expected, so I will go and get my Taxes done first : )

In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays."

www.birds.cornell.edu/allaboutbirds/studying/feathers/col...

www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...