Notes ⁴

Like the leopard, they pounce from above!

Like Black Phoebes (and leopards), bluebirds like to hunt by sitting on a high perch overlooking an open area and flinging themselves at prey that goes by. These are less common but I do see them in suburban yards, parks, and campuses (and tons in Arastradero Preserve and Fremont Older Open Space Preserve). They're often not very brightly colored and rather greyish overall. Adult males have blue heads and throats and are more and brighter blue.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sialia_mexicana_07089.JPG
2. (c) Sarah Stierch, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Sarah Stierch, http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahvain/7333917558/
3. (c) Pablo Leautaud, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.flickr.com/photos/pleautaud/2417948600/
4. (c) sea-kangaroo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNaturalist NZ taxon page
• Animal Diversity Web
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• CalPhotos
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• VertNet
• Xeno-canto

iNaturalist NZ Map