VIBGYOR Series - 'B' for 'Blue' - Bluebirds

This post is part of the Chennai Bloggers Club's CBC VIBGYOR BLOG TAG where some
of us will write a post on the colours of VIBGYOR each day starting 1st of September to 
the 7th of September. The colour theme for today's post is BLUE

My most ever favorite color would always be blue & all of its shades. I'm so happy to post about it :) 

The blue color is said to be the coolest color and its meaning is often related to sincerity, spirituality, trust, loyalty, serenity and  the color of inspiration. It is said that it would be liked by many conservative people and mainly it symbolizes peace and the Virgin Mary.

Since I have already posted about some plants under Violet and Indigo, I have opted to choose a bird here under Blue. So let us see about a bird called 'Bluebird' and also about one of the blue-colored birds of India.

Bluebirds are said to be omnivorous or insectivorous birds and they fall under the genus Sialia of the thrush family. Many would say that the color of the bluebird's back is the piece of sky as they possess the sky blue color.The native of this bird is America, especially North America in particular. There are three different species under this single Genus of Sialia . They are,

                            *Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis),
                            *Western Bluebird ( Sialia mexicana)and
                            *Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides ).

Eastern Bluebird

         

Western Bluebirds. The dark one is male and light one is female

Mountain Bluebird

Images Source : Internet

The male bluebirds are said to be brightly colored when compared to the female bluebirds. These Bluebirds are well known for their sweet songs. Bluebirds feeds on small fruits and insects. Coming to their nest, it is the male bird starts off building the nest, but it is believed that only the female bird has to complete the nest finally and decides about the place of the nest. Bluebirds are said be in royal blue color and they are well known for their chirps like 'chir-we'. They prefer to live in open fields or grassy areas with some scattered trees.  The Eastern Bluebirds is said to be the state bird for both New York and Missouri. The Mountain Bluebirds can be found in rocky mountain areas and they are entirely blue compared to eastern ow western bluebirds which has some orange spots in them.

Sources of information :

state.nj.us
http://news.nationalgeographic.co.in

Blue(colored)bird in India - Himalayan Bluetail :

Similar to the above Bluebird, here in India, we do have a blue-colored bird which is somewhat similar to that bluebird which is known as Himalayan Bluetail ( Tarsiger rufilatus) . Coincidentally this Himalayan Bluetail bird also fall under the same family of Bluebird, the 'thrush' family and it is native to Asis. It is a small passerine bird an it is also related to Red-flanked Bluetail and considered as its subspecies. But these two birds differ as Red-flanked Bluetail is a long-distant migrant and it has more intense blue color in their upper parts whereas Himalayan Bluetail is a short-distant altitudinal migrant.These birds can be seen at Himalayas, Sikkim, Nepal, Northeast India, Thailand (during winter) and South China. The habitat of these birds is said to be coniferous hill forests.

They are often seen flicking their their tails and wings. The adult male birds are said to have blue upper parts whereas the female bird has brown upper parts. They can be identified with a blue tail.

Male Himalayan Bluetail

Female Himalayan Bluetail

Images Source : Internet


It would really be a wonderful experience to witness them directly. It is so pleasing to see the blue colored birds. Hope you all would have seen any of these birds or may get a chance in future :)