Skip to main content

The Mountain Bluebird in Arizona

Authors
Junius Henderson
Journal
Condor
Volume
10
Issue
2 (March-April)
Year
1908
Pages
94
Section
From Field and Study
Online Text

The Mountain Bluebird in Northern Arizona

The suggestion of Austin Paul Smith on page 50 of January CONDOR that the presence of Sialia arctica at Flagstaff, Arizona, in late February and early March might indicate that they are residents, hardly warrants that inference. The species reaches northern Colorado at about that time regularly in spring migration, spreading rapidly along the foothills at about the altitude of Flagstaff and reaching timberline (11,000 feet) by the last of March. They have been known to reach an altitude of 9,000 feet as early as February 23. Hence the Arizona record is not evidence one way or the other as to residence. However, for other reasons, some ornithologists suspect that in this latitude some few of the birds may remain in the mountains thru the winter, as in case of the robins.

JUNIUS HENDERSON

Boulder, Colorado

Advanced Search