WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Sialia currucoides | Mountain Bluebird 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
The breeding range of mountain bluebird extends from central Alaska,
central Yukon Territory, southern Mackenzie District, southern
Saskatchewan, and southwestern Manitoba; south along the eastern slopes
of the Coast Ranges to northwestern and south-central California; and to
central and southeastern Nevada, northern Arizona, southern New Mexico,
western Oklahoma, Colorado, western Nebraska, North Dakota, and
northeastern North Dakota [1].  Sightings of breeding mountain bluebirds
(paired with eastern bluebirds) have been reported in Minnesota [6,56].

Mountain bluebirds winter from southern British Columbia and western
Montana south to northern Baja California and neighboring islands,
Sonora, southern Chihuahua, central Nuevo Leon, extreme southwestern
Kansas, western Oklahoma, and western Texas.  Occasional sightings in
western and northern Arkansas and northern Manitoba have been reported [1].

Breeding mountain bluebirds have been sighted in Wisconsin [43].
Transient and winter resident mountain bluebirds have been reported in
Vancouver, British Columbia [65].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
FRES11 Spruce-fir
FRES15 Oak-hickory
FRES17 Elm-ash-cottonwood
FRES19 Aspen-birch
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES22 Western white pine
FRES23 Fir-spruce
FRES24 Hemlock-Sitka spruce
FRES25 Larch
FRES26 Lodgepole pine
FRES27 Redwood
FRES28 Western hardwoods
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES38 Plains grasslands


STATES : 


    
AK
    
AZ
    
AR
    
CA
    
CO
    
ID
    
KS
    
MN
    
MT
    
NE


    
NV
    
NM
    
ND
    
OK
    
OR
    
SD
    
TX
    
UT
    
WA
    
WI
    
WY






    
AB
    
BC
    
MB
    
NT
    
SK
    
YT






    
MEXICO
    




BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K001  Spruce-cedar-hemlock forest
   K002  Cedar-hemlock-Douglas-fir forest
   K003  Silver fir-Douglas-fir forest
   K004  Fir-hemlock forest
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K006  Redwood forest
   K007  Red fir forest
   K008  Lodgepole pine-subalpine forest
   K009  Pine-cypress forest
   K010  Ponderosa shrub forest
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K013  Cedar-hemlock-pine forest
   K014  Grand fir-Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce-fir forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K018  Pine-Douglas-fir forest
   K019  Arizona pine forest 
   K020  Spruce-fir-Douglas-fir forest
   K021  Southwestern spruce-fir forest
   K022  Great Basin pine forest
   K023  Juniper-pinyon woodland
   K024  Juniper steppe woodland
   K025  Alder-ash forest
   K026  Oregon oakwoods
   K027  Mesquite bosque
   K029  California mixed evergreen forest
   K030  California oakwoods
   K031  Oak-juniper woodlands
   K032  Transition between K031 and K037
   K033  Chaparral
   K034  Montane chaparral
   K038  Great Basin sagebrush
   K055  Sagebrush steppe
   K056  Wheatgrass-needlegrass shrubsteppe
   K095  Great Lakes pine forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
     1  Jack pine
     5  Balsam fir
    16  Aspen
    21  Eastern white pine
    22  White pine-hemlock
    51  White pine-chestnut oak
   208  Whitebark pine
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   211  White fir
   212  Western larch
   213  Grand fir
   217  Aspen
   218  Lodgepole pine
   220  Rocky Mountain juniper
   229  Pacific Douglas-fir
   230  Douglas-fir-western hemlock
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   238  Western juniper
   243  Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
   244  Pacific ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir
   245  Pacific ponderosa pine
   247  Jeffrey pine
   250  Blue oak-foothills pine
   255  California coast live oak


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
   104  Antelope bitterbrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
   105  Antelope bitterbrush-Idaho fescue
   107  Western juniper/big sagebrush/bluebunch wheatgrass
   109  Ponderosa pine shrubland
   110  Ponderosa pine-grassland
   201  Blue oak woodland
   202  Coast live oak woodland
   207  Scrub oak mixed chaparral
   314  Big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
   315  Big sagebrush-Idaho fescue
   316  Big sagebrush-rough fescue
   322  Curlleaf mountain-mahogany-bluebunch wheatgrass
   409  Tall forb
   411  Aspen woodland


PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Mountain bluebird occurs in several vegetative communities and is the
most ecologically tolerant of the three bluebird species.  In most
communities, areas with snags (standing dead trees) are preferred over
snagless areas.


In western North Dakota's Little Missouri National Grasslands, mountain
bluebirds were summer residents (mean density 2.3 pairs per 100 acres
[2.3/40 ha]) in ash (Fraxinus spp.) woodlands but not in cottonwood
(Populus spp.), juniper (Juniperus spp.), or pine woodlands.  The ash
woodlands were in upland draws surrounded by prairie with dense shrubs
on the edges [31].  Mountain bluebirds have been observed in nearly
treeless areas of the South Dakota Badlands [45].  In the Black Hills
mountain bluebirds occupy nesting areas in ponderosa pine (P.
ponderosa) woodlands [45].  In southeastern British Columbia mountain
bluebirds were present on shrub plots within dry Douglas-fir
(Pseudotsuga menziesii) forests; a small number was present in very
young conifer stands [51].  In Montana mountain bluebirds are present in
the Douglas-fir-ponderosa pine zone and in the cedar (Thuja
spp.)-hemlock (Tsuga spp.)-spruce (Picea spp.)-grand fir (Abies grandis)
zone of the Kootenai National Forest [23].  They are also present in
whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) stands [40].  In northern Utah
breeding mountain bluebirds used clearcut quaking aspen (Populus
tremuloides) sites [15].  In central Nevada mountain bluebirds were
present in the interface between the aspen (Populus spp.)-white fir
(Abies concolor) zone and the upper big sagebrush (Artemisia
tridentata)-grass zone [42].  In west-central Colorado mountain
bluebirds were observed in aspen-dominated stands [53].  Mountain
bluebirds were present in west-central Colorado in severely burned
lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) stands with standing dead trees [49].

In Arizona mountain bluebirds were active nesters in old-growth
ponderosa pine at approximately 8,500 feet (2,591 m) elevation [52].
Bent [8] compiled the following reports of mountain bluebird breeding
habitat:  During the breeding season mountain bluebirds are usually
found above 7,000 feet (2,133 m) elevation in Utah, Colorado, northern
New Mexico, and Arizona where aspen (Populus spp.)  groves alternate
with burned pine (Pinus spp.) forests with abundant snags.  In the
Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico, breeding mountain bluebirds
occurred in open quaking aspen groves at 10,300 feet (3,139 m)
elevation; mountain bluebird families have been seen up to 12,300 feet
(3,749 m) elevation.



REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Sialia currucoides | Mountain Bluebird