So, tell me, if you know, how did the the Bluebird become the bird of happiness? Have you ever seen a photo of a bluebird, at least our Eastern Bluebird, that looks anything other than grumpy? There is that famous mug shot (litterally, it is generally seen on a mug for sale in some gift shop) of the “Angry Bluebird”, with its feathers ruffled and it’s face set…but really, that is just the face the good God gave the bluebird. It is something in the shape of the bill and the placement of the eyes, of were the line of blue meets the line of brown. The bird just looks aggrieved. The Bluebird, in fact, could have been the prototype bird for Angry Birds! The Bluebird of agrivation! That is more like it.

Of course, maybe the ancients had some other bluebird in mind when they coined the phrase. Maybe it was already a cliché when the first European settlers named this little ball of blue and rust feathers. Maybe it is all, after all, just a missunderstanding. 🙂

Then too, I was happy to see this particular bluebird in the fields down by the ocean the other day…we don’t see them too often in Kennebunk at any season, and this bird is my first for this year: a hint, at least, that spring is finally beginning to spring in Southern Maine, despite the snow still on the ground.

This shot is right out at the limits of what can be usefully done with the 75-300mm zoom on the Olympus OM-D E-M10. I used the 2x digital extender in the camera for a 1200mm equivalent field of view, shooting off my bean-bag head on the monopod. I could crop it slightly..and the bird would be bigger in the frame, but there would be no more detail…and I like the composition here.

Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.