Western Bluebird
(Sialia mexicana)

Overview

Summary

© Jukka Jantunen
For additional photos and vocalizations, visit Dendroica. (Link opens in a new window.)

The Western Bluebird breeds in the dry montane forests of southern British Columbia and occasionally in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta; a portion of this population winters in Canada but many migrate to the western United States. This species is monitored by the Breeding Bird Survey and the Christmas Bird Count, both of which suggest that Western Bluebirds have shown large increases in population size since about 1970, despite the disappearance of small costal populations (Campbell et al. 1997). This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe
• Breeding Bird Survey (BBS): Relative Abundance and Breeding Distribution (1993-2012)

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation of world population

Conservation and management

The Western Bluebird is a secondary cavity nester, traditionally using cavities excavated by woodpeckers such as the Northern Flicker (Guinan et al. 2008). It readily uses nest boxes, and large-scale nest box programs within its range in Canada have undoubtedly had a positive effect on its nesting success (Campbell et al. 1997, Guinan et al. 2008). Degradation of productive habitat is a concern throughout its range in North America; open forests of pine, oak and Douglas-fir, which were formerly characterised by large trees in an open configuration, have, through logging and fire suppression, become denser forests of younger trees (Guinan et al. 2008).

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser, M.C.E. McNall, and G.E. J. Smith. 1997. The Birds of British Columbia. Volume 3: Passerines, Flycatchers Through Vireos. UBC Press, Vancouver, BC.
• Guinan, J.A., P.A. Gowaty and E.K. Eltzroth. 2008. Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Guinan, J.A., P.A. Gowaty and E.K. Eltzroth. 2008. Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)