This cavity-nesting thrush is one of three bluebird species found only in North America. Previously abundant in western Oregon, the Western bluebird suffered a precipitous decline through degradation of habitat and avian competition.

The male has a cobalt blue head and throat, blue wings and tail edged with dusky brown, russet breast and flanks, gray-blue belly and undertail coverts. Female colorations are subdued: head and throat gray, back gray-brown, wings and tail pale blue, breast and flanks pale russet. The amount and brightness of blue and russet are brighter on older birds.

The Western bluebird breeds in open habitats with suitable nest cavities and structures through forested mountains and patchily in wooded lowlands. It is most abundant in western Oregon, in low- to moderate-elevation foothills. It is fairly common on the south coast and on the eastern slopes of the Coast Range foothills and other hills intruding the length of the Willamette Valley. It is common in the Rogue and Umpqua valleys and variably rare to locally fairly common east of the Cascades. It is mostly absent during breeding season from the high deserts of the southeast Oregon.

The Western bluebird is an Oregon Conservation Strategy Species in the Willamette Valley. 

Hear the song of the Western bluebird

Photo by Kathy Munsel, ODFW