The male mountain bluebird is bright sky blue, while the female is a duller dusky blue-gray. These birds spend the winters in south and central Mexico, and nest in early summer in the western US, Canada and Alaska. They prefer open coniferous and deciduous forests and sub-alpine meadows, often above 5000 feet. They may be seen in their spring migration near Leavenworth, moving across a meadow or up across an open slope.

Watch for the mountain bluebird sitting near a meadow on a fence post or tall weed, looking around, then hovering, or flying down to the ground, to get a insect to eat or to feed their young. The female incubates 5 eggs for 14 days. For 22 days, both parents feed the baby birds in the nest until the young can fly. The males tend those adolescent birds while the female re-nests.

Mountain bluebirds need a hole in a tree where they build their nests, but there are few cavities left due to the use of metal rather than wooden fence posts, and many dry snags have been cut for firewood. If you make a suitable box, and place it in open habitat at a higher elevation such as along Mountain Home Road, these bright birds may raise a family in that nest box.