It was a very bright afternoon and there weren’t a whole lot of birds in evidence: a couple of scrub jays on the wire, a few butterflies floating around. But then, when I looked into the shadows of a pear apple tree in the front yard, I saw a trio of Western Bluebirds.
Shooting into such a dark area with such a bright background was a bit of a challenge. Here’s how it came out.
Western Bluebird in the front yard, Atascadero, September 19, 2023
Western Bluebirds, Atascadero, September 19, 2023
Pete Dunne describes the Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana) as a “smallish portly thrush . . . somewhat humpbacked and potbellied.” He’s not wrong. The genus name means “a kind of bird” in Greek; it also, according to Lempriere’s Classical Dictionary, was a city in Cappadocia.