Idaho State Bird
Mountain Bluebird

• Official Idaho State Bird Name: Mountain Bluebird
• Family: Turdidae, Thrushes
• Scientific name: Sialia currucoides
• Length: 7.25" (18 cm)
• Diet: Insects; also takes fruit, especially in winter. Young fed insects.
• Foraging Behavior: Often hovers while foraging from ground or hawking from low perch.
• Voice: Song a series of low, burry whistles like call jerrf jerrf jewr jipo jerrf. Call a soft whistle similar to other bluebirds but thinner and clearer: feeer or a mellow, muffled perf, always descending; also a short, harsh chik or chak.
• Habitat: Open rangelands, meadows, generally at elevations above 5,000 feet; in winter found primarily in open lowlands, desert.
• Number of broods: 2
• Nest: Often in woodpecker-excavated cavity; loose cup of grass, weed stems, pine needles, twigs, occasionally with hair or feathers. Female selects site.
• Eggs: Averages 5-6 pale blue to bluish-white eggs, rarely white, unmarked. 0.8" (22 mm).
• Incubation period: 13-14 days
• Fledge: 22-23 days after hatching
• Longevity Record: 9 Years and 0 months (according to USGS Bird Banding Lab)

The Mountain Bluebird was adopted as the State bird of Idaho by the State Legislature in 1931.

Idaho Birds

Bluebirds are the State Birds of three other States besides Idaho.
Go to Nevada State Bird (also the Mountain Bluebird).
Go to Missouri State Bird and New York State Bird (Eastern Bluebird).

For more information about bird houses or nest boxes for bluebirds:
Go to bluebird house plans.

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