A slight touch of blue

Just adding five extra photos tonight, trying to catch up a little, otherwise I will never get back to the last two days of my Trinidad images. Will post three photos tomorrow morning.

This photo shows a female Mountain Bluebird, far less colourful than the male. She still has a very faint wash of colour on some of her feathers.

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.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id

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

What a great day our group of four people had on 28 May 2017, taking part in the annual May Species Count. We travelled in just one car, which worked out well. On the 2016 May Species Count, we had been unable to find a Great Gray Owl, but I drove back to the area the next day, and found two of them. No matter how many times I see one of these owls and no matter how many hundreds/thousands of photos I've taken of them, each owl is just as exciting as the very first. So, it was a thrill to again see one of these spectacular owls.

The owl was on a fence post when we first saw it. As is usually the case with these owls, it was focused on finding a Meadow Vole for a snack and in fact did catch one while I was watching. It moved to a few different fence posts in its search. Once it had caught its prey, it ate it there, down on the ground - with its back to us, of course. I was kind of hoping it would fly back up to the fence with it, but it didn't.

While I was taking photos, various people came along the road, a couple in cars, but most were cyclists out for a long ride on such a beautiful, sunny day. The owl basically ignored everyone, giving just a quick glance at us every once in a while. Their concentration never fails to leave me in awe.

We found 72 bird species - amazing, really. Three pairs of great eyes - plus me : ) Part of our Count covers some of my favourite roads, so it is not surprising that I enjoy it so much. Once the Count had finished, I drove a few of the roads again on my way home, mainly focusing on two pairs of Mountain Bluebirds that I had enjoyed watching last year. Needless to say, I went home feeling very happy after a long day of birding, and oh, so tired!