Eastern Bluebird and Comparison to Western and Mountain Bluebirds

The eastern bluebird is dimorphic. Males have a bright blue head, back and wings. The breast is brownish red. Females are lighter with gray on the head and back  and some blue on the wings and tail. The female's breast is usually light and more orange than the male's. There are seven subspecies. I've seen the nominate ssp. sialis, found in southern and southeastern Canada, eastern and central U.S. and northeastern Mexico. We have western bluebirds where I live which I see quite frequently. 

I saw this when I was with my sons, Sam and Andrew, on the Patsy Pond Nature Trail in eastern North Carolina on May 13, 2024. The photo below is just a cropped version of this one.  

This and the next photo were taken in Shawnee Mission Park, Kansas, on November 1, 2024. 

Illustration of of a female, ssp. sialis, from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of male, ssp. sialis, from Birds of the World.

The difference between the western and eastern bluebird is male western bluebirds have blue (male) or gray (female) throats, while eastern bluebirds have an orange throat. The mountain bluebird lacks orange anywhere on its body.  

This and the next photo of western bluebirds were taken near the Chilao Visitor Center in the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles on June 18, 2025. They are the ssp. occidentalis which are found throughout Southern California. 

Western bluebird female illustration from Birds of the World. 

Western bluebird male illustration from Birds of the World. 

Mountain bluebird, female, near Kenton, Oklahoma on October 19, 2020. 

Mountain bluebird, female, illustration from Birds of the World.

Mountain bluebird, male, illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range maps for each of the three species of bluebirds, from Birds of the World. 

Eastern bluebird

Western bluebird

Mountain bluebird

At our home in Redlands, Southern California, we get western bluebirds in the spring and mountain bluebirds (much more rare) in the winter. 

Brown-Headed Cowbird

The adult male brown-headed cowbird is iridescent black with a brown head. The adult female is slightly smaller and dull gray with a pale throat and fine streaking on the underparts. The juvenile is brown with a scaly looking back and streaked underparts. 

The first one I saw was a female on a hike on August 13, 2011 to the summit of Mt. Sherman, a 14,000+ foot peak in Colorado. It was pretty high up on the mountain.  

Two males on May 5, 2023 at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah.

This, and the next two photos, were taken at Fish Springs NWR in Juab County, Utah. 

A juvenile with an adult male.

An adult male.

An adult female at Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR nr. the visitor center.

The name "cowbird" comes from it often being seen near cattle. There are three subspecies and these are all the nominate ssp., artemisiae, found in western Canada and the western U.S. It is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of other small perching birds. At least 220 bird host species have been documented, including hummingbirds and raptors. The young cowbird is fed by the host parents at the expense of their own young. A female can lay up to 40 eggs in a season.  

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World. 

Brewer's Blackbird

Brewer's blackbird is named after the ornithologist Thomas Mayo Brewer, not after any other iteration of the name "brewer". Males have black plumage with an iridescent purple head and neck and glossy bluish-green highlights on the rest of the body. The feet and legs are black and the eye is bright yellow. The female is brown-gray with hints of the male's iridescence. The eyes are dark brown. 

Male at Lake Silverwood in San Bernardino County, California on March 12, 2022.

Female at Lake Silverwood on March 12, 2022.

Male at San Simeon, San Luis Obispo County, California on November 21, 2023.

Illustration of female from Birds of the World.

Illustration of male from Birds of the World. 

It is a year-round resident of our area and most of California. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Chestnut-Headed Bee-Eater

We stayed the night of March 12 to 13, 2019 in Ella, Sri Lanka at the Ella Gap Panorama on a hill overlooking the valley. Our wonderful guide, Sanjay, of Lanka Tracker, noticed a chestnut-headed bee-eater going in and out of a hole in the side of the hill at the bottom of the hill. We saw the bee-eater both on the way in to the hotel and out, but I was never able to get a photo of it. 

Illustration of a chestnut-headed bee-eater from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World.

I've thought of that bee-eater many times since, wishing I could have gotten that photo. I really love the bee-eaters. It was ssp. leschenaulti, found in southern India, Sri Lanka, northern India and Nepal east to southern China (Yunnan), Indochina and the Malay Peninsula.  

Wrentit

I have seen one wrentit, on May 2, 2022 at Big Morongo Canyon Preserve in Morongo Valley, California. Three identifiers have confirmed my very blurry photos on iNaturalist, including the number 1 and number 2 identifier for wrentits on iNaturalist. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

The wrentit has been a difficult bird to classify, as indicated by its name. It is not a wren and it is not a tit and currently it is classified as a parrotbill (the only parrotbill in North America), but it has been classified in at least two or three other families. It has dull olive, brown or grayish plumage, short wings, a long tail, a short bill and a pale iris. Birds of the World says it "has been described as the most sedentary species in North America, with an average" dispersion from where it was born to where it later lives of 400 meters. Pairs will remain in the same vicinity for up to 12 years. They form monogamous pairs for lifetime. 

It is only found in a narrow strip of coastal habitat from Oregon, south through California to the Baja California peninsula. 

Jungle Babbler

On November 25, 2025 we made an afternoon stop at Keoladeo NP near Bhuratpur, Rajasthan, India for a birding tour. I was with my brother-in-laws Stan and Dave and our wives decided to leave us there and go check into our hotel. While we were in the parking lot some birds caught my attention and I investigated. There were quite a few of them, on a block wall, on a tree next to it, on the other side of the wall, and on the ground in front. Our guide, Ashok, identified the birds as jungle babblers. 

The jungle babbler is a common resident in most parts of the Indian subcontinent. It is non-migratory, and has short rounded wings and is weak in flight. It is brownish-gray with a yellow bill. There are five subspecies and I saw ssp. sindiana which is slightly darker than the nominate ssp., more creamy buff on the belly, and there is some mottling on the throat and breast. Sindiana is found in the Indus River plains of Pakistan down into Rajasthan and the Rann of Kutch in India. 

Jungle babbler illustration, nominate ssp. striata, from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Common Babbler

On November 26, 2025, while in Keoladeo NP in Rajasthan, India, about 1.25 miles south of Bharatpur and 34 miles west of Agra, we were taking a motorized rickshaw tour with our guide Ashok. We'd stopped to look at some birds and I was sitting in the rickshaw with my brother-in-law Stan. He pointed to some birds in a tree right next to the rickshaw and I kind of ignored him. Then Ashok came back to the rickshaw and pointed to the birds and said, "those are common babblers, except they are not so common around here." I picked up my camera to take a photo and they flew. At that point I was feeling pretty stupid. I'd had the opportunity to photograph them earlier. So the common babbler is another bird I have included on my life list that I have not photographed. 

Illustration of common babbler from Birds of the World. 

It is one of the Old World babblers that consists of 58 species. I've seen two other Old World Babblers: the yellow-billed babbler in March 2019 in Kandy and Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka and the jungle babbler in Keoladeo NP the day before. 

Range of the common babbler from Birds of the World.

Black and Red Broadbill

In July 2023 we were on the island of Borneo in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, in Tanjung Puting NP on a klotok cruising up the Sekonyer River. Our guide Sam pointed out a beautiful red and black bird standing in a tree on the side of the river which flew further up the river. Sam told us it was a black and red broadbill. I did not have my camera available, partially because it was acting up after getting it wet on the island of Sumatra, and missed a good photo. I believe we had glimpses of one or two others, but not as good as this particular sighting. I keep track of the birds I see and rarely include birds I don't have a photo of, but this is one of the exceptions. The black and red broadbill is a member of the family Eurylaimidae, the Asian and Grauer's broadbills containing 10 species.  

Illustration of black and red broadbill, ssp. macrorhynchos, from Birds of the World. 

The black and red broadbill has a black head and breastband; greenish black upperparts; a maroon half-collar, rump and uppertail coverts; white edges on the scapulars that form a white line on the closed wing; a narrow orange line on the bend of the wing; a black tail with variable amounts of white; a bill with a turquoise-blue maxilla, a  yellow-orange mandible with a blue tip and edges; irises that are emerald green; and feet that are blue and sometimes tinged violet. It is a gorgeous bird. We saw the nominate ssp. macrorhynchos, found on Borneo, Sumatra and offshore islands from them. 

Range of the black and red broadbill from Birds of the World.