Pic of the Day

This Mountain Bluebird was photographed in Rocky Mountain National Park. After a night and morning of torrential rains the clouds began to break around two o'clock. As I left the Moraine Park campground I noticed a Mountain Bluebird perched on a fence along the campground drive. Pulling off the road, I watched the bluebird as it made its way around its territory stopping at specific spots to vocalize. I noticed the bluebird stopped at a particular post along side of the drive about every 15 minutes. Using my van as a blind I move the vehicle about 20 feet from the post and positioned it so the background would be out-of-focus leaves of Aspen trees more than 200 feet away in the background. While shooting, I also found the nest in an aspen tree on the edge of the meadow that the male was constantly defending. For more than an hour I watched and photographed the male and female fly to and from the nest, feed their young and defend territory, while having one of the best times of my trip.