Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis), Tres Rios Wetlands, Maricopa County

This Eastern Bluebird was discovered and photographed by Tommy DeBardeleben on 1 December 2011.

This is the first record for Maricopa County. 

The pale Mexican subspecies of Eastern Bluebird (S. s. fulva, often called Azure Bluebird) is a permanent resident of far Southeastern Arizona.  Eastern Bluebird is casual elsewhere in SE Arizona in winter.  Since fulva is nonmigratory, these other records are likely the nominate eastern race (S. s. sialis) and the few that have been collected belong to this race.  This pattern of distribution suggests that this bird is most likely also S. s. sialis. 

Male distinguished from Western Bluebird by combination of the clean blue back and scapulars, rufous throat and sides of neck and white belly

01 December 2011, photos by Tommy DeBardeleben

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