Winged Wednesday — 6/10/2026: The Color Blue

Eric Gofreed

Well-Known Member
It’s Winged Wednesday, where feathers, flutters, and flight steal the show! Whether they’re soaring, hovering, gliding, or simply posing where the light is best, we want to see your favorite winged wonders. Birds, bugs, bats, butterflies, dragonflies, or anything else with wings—if it flies, it qualifies.

My contribution this is brought to you by The Color Blue.

We spend our lives beneath a blue sky, yet a flash of blue in a tree can still stop a birdwatcher mid-sentence.
Some of these birds wear blue boldly. Others hide it in a wing, a tail, or a brief shimmer of sunlight.
Either way, blue has a remarkable ability to make us look twice.

These are a few of my favorite winged visitors who brought a little blue to the week.

Blue dacnis - male FW.jpg

Blue Dacnis (male)
It's hard to overlook blue when blue refuses to be overlooked.

Western Bluebird-0225-Edit-Edit.jpg

Western Bluebird
A little blue goes a long way, especially at takeoff.

Blue-eyed Darner-00704-Edit.jpg

Blue-eyed Darners
It's easier to stay together when you're going the same direction.

Blue Morpho Butterfly (Morpho peleides).jpg

Blue Morpho
When wings closed, a butterfly. When open, an announcement.

Sayaca Tanager -09550-Edit.jpg

Sayaca Tanager
If you can't find it, try turning the world upside down.
 
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Trent Watts

Well-Known Member
Love these Eric. That Sayaca Tanager really has something to say.
My WW contribution this week come from mostly from the last week of insect photography.

A Bluebottle fly.
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Scarlet Malachite Beetle
W1011766.jpg


Sweat Bee
W1011838.jpg


This week there were a lot of these Silvery Blue Butterflies hanging around doing their butterfly thing. This one was the only one that stayed in one place long enough to get some images. It was on a sandy beach by the river and seemed quite content for me to get very close with my camera. The wings are a beautiful blue on the inside and quite dull on the outside.
W1012116.jpg


Same butterfly with wings folded together.
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Close up of head.
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AlanLichty

Moderator
I hate to break up the string of nice blue hues but I am a bit short on blue wings in my stash without going into reruns.

A well loaded bee heading away from a generous coneflower from last summer:

CR5m2_BeeCone081225.jpg


And a ptarmigan at Mt. Rainier National Park. This bird is apparently quite used to not being noticed by teeming hoards of tourists since it blends into the foliage quite well but is only about a foot away from one of the busiest footpaths leading away from Paradise Lodge. @Jameel Hyder and I were chatting on the trail when this bird and another one were feeding in the brush right next to us so we both grabbed some shots.

CR5m2_MRNPPtarmigan092525.jpg
 
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