Mountain Bluebird

Identificazione

The mountain bluebird is 15.5–18 cm (6.1–7.1 in) in length, weighs 24–37 g (0.85–1.31 oz), and has a wingspan of 11.0-14.2 in (28-36 cm). It is sexually dimorphic in the color of the plumage but the sexes are similar in size. An adult male is bright turquoise-blue above and somewhat lighter blue underneath but with a white lower belly. An adult female has duller blue wings and tail, grey breast, grey crown, throat and back. In fresh fall plumage, the female's throat and breast are brownish near the flank, contrasting with white tail underparts. Their call is a thin 'few'; while their song is warbled high 'chur chur'.

Tassonomia

The mountain bluebird was formally described in 1798 by the German ornithologist Johann Matthäus Bechstein and given the name Motacilla s. Sylvia currucoides. The specific epithet combines curruca, from Carl Linnaeus's binomial name Motacilla curruca for the lesser whitethroat with the Ancient Greek -oidēs meaning "resembling". The mountain bluebird is now placed with the two other bluebirds in the genus Sialia that was introduced by the English naturalist William John Swainson in 1827. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

Nome scientifico

Sialia currucoides

Autorità

(Bechstein, 1798)

Ordine

Passeriformi

Famiglia

Turdidae

Genere

Sialia

Areale e habitat

Their breeding habitat is open country across western North America, including mountainous areas, as far north as Alaska. Although mountain bluebirds can be found in some states year-round, their range is expansive — they generally migrate south to Mexico in the winter and north into western Canada and even Alaska in the summer. Depending on the time of year, they may be ubiquitous in mountain environments like grasslands or landscapes of sagebrush, where trees and shrubs are fairly spread out.

Areale riproduttivo

America settentrionale occidentale

Areale non riproduttivo

Messico occidentale

Migrazione

Migratori completi

Comportamento

Comportamento migratorio: Migratori completi.

Conservazione

Tendenza della popolazione: in aumento.

Tendenza della popolazione

in aumento