One of the joys of spring

Yesterday late afternoon, on the spur of the moment, I went for a short drive SW of the city. On the way out there, I saw a pair of Mountain Bluebirds, but wasn't able to get any fairly close shots of them. On the way back, I decided to drive along a different backroad that I'd never driven along before. Came across a rather nice old, wooden grain silo (seen in one of the photos I posted today), a Ruffed Grouse who was crossing the road, several very distant Deer, and a pair of Mountain Bluebirds that gave me the chance for closer shots (at least, this male did).

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...