The original, and abiding, objective of the site was\u00a0neither commercial nor promotional. It was\u00a0merely a notebook of things learned\u00a0about my\u00a0surroundings. Had someone else built such a website, I would have been content to\u00a0learn from it. No one else did,\u00a0so I set to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ten years later, the website and its blog receive about seventy-thousand page viewings a year. Most visitors are from Western Canada, but many come from other provinces and lands. Such\u00a0numbers are small potatoes in the modern world of febrile social media. For me, relative obscurity is good: I am not a populist, but a backwater naturalist consulting his muse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet, a decade does represent\u00a0a satisfying anniversary for the project. How should it be marked? I thought about a reprise of favourite images, but decided that it would be more fun to\u00a0just press on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fortunately, an observation this last week provided the ideal subject material, the Western Bluebird. (Thank you, Darcy Samulak for showing me where to find it.)<\/p>\n
Locally, we encounter\u00a0two species of the beauteous bluebird. I had seen the Mountain Bluebird other years (Puffed blue<\/a>, Bluebird of unhappiness<\/a>), but had not seen the Western Bluebird until last week. Unlike the Mountain, with its powder-blue breast, the Western has an orange\u00a0breast and shoulders. The male’s colours are bright; the female’s are muted.<\/p>\n What a grand present: an anniversary bluebird.<\/p>\n The male Western Bluebird has a blue head and wings, but an orange breast and shoulders. He is seen chasing some unsuspecting insect. The female has muted colours. She is seen here pouncing on and then\u00a0wrestling with a larva. Seen from the back, the male is strikingly ultramarine blue, sometimes with touches of orange. Today marks the tenth anniversary of this website. It was launched on\u00a0March 15th, 2005. \u00a0 The original, and abiding, objective of the site was\u00a0neither commercial nor promotional. It was\u00a0merely a notebook of things learned\u00a0about my\u00a0surroundings. Had someone else built … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/westernbluebird150311as2.jpg\")
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