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Western bluebird
Sialia mexicana
46.8997, -120.66
Field Notes
Description:
Males are deep blue on top and wings with an orange chest and sides, a brownish patch on back, and a gray belly and undertail coverts.
Habitat:
Spotted near the Umtanum creek a few miles southwest of Ellensburg, Washington. The county has established box nest for them in various areas (you can see them inspecting it in pic 3). In eastern Washington, most birds migrate south in the fall to locations throughout the southwestern United States and central Mexico. Small flocks occasionally remain through the winter in valleys, especially in mild winters.
Notes:
They nest in cavities or in nest boxes, competing with tree swallows, house sparrows, and European starlings for natural nesting locations. Because of the high level of competition, house sparrows often attack western bluebirds for their nests. The attacks are made both in groups or alone. Attacks by starlings can be reduced if the nesting box opening is kept to 1.5 in (38 mm) diameter to avoid takeover. Nest boxes come into effect when the species is limited and dying out due to the following predators: cats, raccoons, possums, and select birds of prey such as the Cooper’s hawk. Ants, bees, earwigs, and wasps can crawl into the nesting boxes and damage the newborns. Western bluebirds are among the birds that nest in [cavities], or holes in trees, or nest boxes. Their [beak]s are too weak and small to dig out their own holes, so they rely on [woodpecker]s to make their nest sites for them. - Wikipedia.
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