Mountain Bluebirds at Lassen Volcanic National Park

I’m writing this post for a couple of reasons. Firstly, if you check the wonderful photo galleries here at 10000 Birds, you will find some excellent shots of the female Mountain Bluebird that Corey took in New York, of all places! I figured that it is only fair and right to include the male Mountain Bluebird (Sialis currucoides) for comparison. Click on photos for full sized images.

And secondly, I realized of all the posts I have written on birds of Lassen Volcanic National Park, I have never really given much detail on the park itself.

Mount Lassen erupted and exploded in May of 1915 sending ash and steam in a 6 mile (10 km) tall mushroom cloud, making it the largest recent eruption in the contiguous United States, until the explosion of Mount St. Helens in 1980 (Photo courtesy NPS).

Lassen Volcanic National Park was established a year later on August 9, 1916. As the fifteenth national park established by Congress, it is one of the oldest national parks in the United States.

Rising to 10,457 feet, this is what Lassen Peak looks like today, across Manzanita Lake, from the North park entrance.

Mountain Bluebirds can be found at several  locations in the park but when I want to be sure to find them, I head up to Bumpass Hell parking lot. It is just a short distance from the Lassen Peak Trailhead as you can see from the interactive map accessible from the left hand column of the Lassen Park website.

Lassen Volcanic National Park is also home to approximately 57 species of mammals ranging in size from the tiny shrew to the North American black bear. At this location you will certainly find a few of the most common mammal species in the park including the American Pika…

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel…

and the Yellow-bellied Marmot.

Along with the Mountain Bluebird, I come to this location to find the Cassin’s Finch (to be seen in an upcoming post)…

and yes, that is his true color…

and Clark’s Nutcracker.  Last June I found adult Nutcrackers feeding young at this location.

Lassen Volcanic National Park provides habitat for approximately 216 species of birds of which 96 have been known to breed in the park, including the Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, which I have yet to see. You can download their bird list here.

To get back to the Mountain Bluebird…

This guy was perched in a tree where I usually find them…

adjacent to the parking area. Then he would fly down to the ground…

to capture insects.

I never saw the female, presumably because she was nesting.

But this guy was very busy…

providing a great photo op for me.

If you plan on birding Northern California in the early summer, I suggest you plan on stopping at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Make sure you check out that Lassen Park bird list to pick out some target birds, you won’t be disappointed!