Meet Idaho’s beautiful state bird

“The bluebird carries the sky on his back …”

— Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862).

Last week was a cloudy, rainy, chilly week and my mood matched the weather. Then I saw a mountain bluebird and for the rest of that time I felt it was a bluebird day in spite of the weather. I was in the area of McArthur Lake when a male mountain bluebird landed in a budding tree nearby. Fortunately for me he was within camera range as I clicked away.

Common in open mountainous country, this bird nests throughout Idaho. The spectacular mountain bluebird was designated the official state bird of Idaho in 1931. The bluebird family is especially plentiful in Idaho’s mountains. The mountain bluebird (Sialia arctcia) is a small thrush found on ranch land and other open areas of the American Northwest. It prefers more open habitats than other bluebirds and can be found in colder habitats in winter.

The male mountain bluebird is a brilliant sky-blue, the female is gray with blue on her wings and tail. The female mountain bluebird builds the nest without help from the male. The male sometimes acts as if he is helping, but he either brings no nest material or he drops it on the way. The mountain bluebird lives in more open terrain than the other two bluebird species (Western bluebird or Eastern bluebird). It often seeks its food by hovering low over the grass in open fields.

Mountain bluebirds hover over the ground to catch insects, and also fly from a perch to seize them. Their main diet consists of insects and berries. They feed heavily on insects, including beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, crickets, ants, bees, and others. The mountain bluebird also eats some berries, including mistletoe, juniper, hackberry, and other plants. Berries are particularly important in their diet in the winter. During the winter they often gather in large flocks, even by the hundreds, sometimes associating with Western bluebirds.

The female selects the site for the nest. The site is in a cavity, usually a natural hollow or old woodpecker hole in a tree, or in a birdhouse. Sometimes the nests are in holes in dirt banks, crevices in cliffs or among rocks, holes in sides of buildings, old nests of other birds (such as the Cliff Swallow Dipper). The nest is a loose cup of weed stems, grass, twigs, rootlets, pine needles, sometimes lined with animal hair or feathers.

They lay four to eight pale blue, unmarked eggs, which are incubated by the female about 13-17 days.

Both of the mountain bluebird parents feed nestlings and they are tended for approximately three to four weeks. The adults generally raise two broods per year.

The young will imprint on their first nest box or cavity, then choose a similar type of box or cavity throughout the rest of their life.

The average life of a bluebird is six to 10 years. The longest recorded lifespan for a bluebird is 10 years and five months. However, most bluebirds die within their first year of life.

Whenever possible, get outside and enjoy beautiful Boundary County!