Mountain Bluebird in Taylor County Wisconsin on May 18, 2020

I thought I would try for the recent female Mountain Bluebird that has been reported in Taylor County Wisconsin. Very rare bird to the state, their range being the dakota’s and south and west. I did not want to miss this opportunity. Being a 4 hour trip up, I hit the road at 2:15 AM. Arriving at 6:30 am, all I could come up with were Tree Swallows at the approximately a trail of 10 bird houses. After about 45 minutes I saw what I thought was my target bird sitting on a Bluebird house farthest away from me. I took a couple of photos at a very long distance but could not really confirm the ID on the bird, it was dark and gloomy, photo was useless. The bird disappeared out of sight, I did not know where it went. I knew it was not a  female Eastern Bluebird. I also knew it was not a male Eastern Bluebird. A male Eastern Bluebird was perching in the area, that was an easy ID. A Bluebird house that was seeing the Mountain Bluebird action the last couple of days by other birders was wide open this morning, a predator? I thought at this point, the Mountain Bluebird had maybe moved on. After 3 hours of hanging out at the bird house area from a distance, I spotted a light colored bird way off at the bird house I had photographed the bird earlier on and along with that I noticed was a male Eastern Bluebird. I was up beat and with my bins I could tell, the bird has shown up! The two birds Eastern and Mountain did some feeding catching a couple of probable insects. Moments later they went back to the bird house, the female stood on the roof, looked in the hole a couple of times and then went in. I feel now the Mountain Bluebird was in the house for the 3 hours I spent looking and waiting for it. It was very windy with high wind gusts, sure, the Mountain Bluebird was just hanging low out of the wind. I took a few shots for the few minutes the bird was out and headed home. A big thank you to the finder of this bird and getting the word out for others to try for it. Images were taken on May 18, 2020.

I see both birds at a distance. The Mountain Bluebird, female on the roof. The Eastern Bluebird, male at the nest hole….

The female Mountain Bluebird goes from the roof to the hole…

Turning for a landing…

Mountain Bluebird at the hole…are there eggs in there??

Out for a brief feeding then perched…

Perched giving nice looks at a distance…

Female Mountain Bluebird back on the roof…

Heads for the hole…

Almost there…

The bird then goes into the hole….are there eggs in there???