Yesterday afternoon, 13 July 2018, I watched as a tiny spider crawled up the breast of this motionless male Mountain Bluebird - and suddenly, goodbye spider!

How wonderful it feels to have a cooler morning! A short while ago, it was just 11C, now 15C just before noon. Finally, I can get some cooler air inside my place. The last two days, I have had to go out in my car just to get the relief of air-conditioning. Yesterday, I more or less repeated my drive from the previous day, except that I called in at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park to see if there was any sign of fungi growing. It is still not the peak of the fungi season, so I was not too hopeful. I barely entered the forest, as it still gives me the creeps, - Bears, Cougar and Moose are seen there, and I have been told so many times not to go by myself. So far, I have only seen a very large Moose. I did find a cluster of very tiny mushrooms ad several clumps of orange Coral Fungus in their usual location. Took a few wildflower shots, too, which I don't do very often these days, unlike a few years ago.

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...

"A female Mountain Bluebird pays more attention to good nest sites than to attractive males. She chooses her mate solely on the basis of the location and quality of the nesting cavity he offers her—disregarding his attributes as a singer, a flier, or a looker.

A male Mountain Bluebird frequently feeds his mate while she is incubating and brooding. As the male approaches with food, the female may beg fledgling-style—with open beak, quivering wings, and begging calls. More often, she waits until her mate perches nearby, then silently flicks the wing farthest from him—a signal that usually sends him off to find her a snack.

The oldest recorded Mountain Bluebird was a female, and at least 9 years old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Alberta in 2005. She had been banded in the same province in 1997." From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/