Returning again to Boulder’s Betasso Preserve might seem like overkill. I had hiked there on the previous Saturday, as I wrote in “The Bluebirds are Back” and again on Wednesday with Sharon, as I wrote in “Back to Betasso.”

But those were mostly hikes combined with a little photography. Yesterday was mostly photography and reading in the warm sun on my Kindle and prompted by a correspondent in Sweden who asked me what a ponderosa pine looked like.

I had written that I hadn’t yet figured out how to capture the beauty of these big trees. On Saturday I tried again.

The problem with ponderosas is that they usually grow in large forests of them. On Saturday I focused on a few isolated ponderosas growing in meadows. In so doing I discovered that lots of birds love these particular ponderosas.

Ponderosas in a Clearing

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One Big Ponderosa Pine Tree

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A Hairy Woodpecker Pecks on a Ponderosa Pine

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This House Finch is Away from Home on a Mullein Stalk Near the Ponderosas

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A Steller's Jay Rests in a Ponderosa Pine Tree

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While Stellar’s Jays are blue, they are considerably bigger than bluebirds, which have an even more intense blue color. And I found more bluebirds in these isolated group of ponderosa pines than I had in hiking miles of the Betasso Preserve on my two most recent previous visits.

A Female Western Bluebird Flies

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A Male Western Bluebird Flies

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As much as I love photos of birds in flight, my favorite shot yesterday was a simple one of a male Mountain Bluebird at rest in a favorite ponderosa pine tree. This little fellow let me get so close that I was able to capture the fine details of his plumage.

A Male Mountain Bluebird in a Ponderosa Pine

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Ponderosa pines are native to western North America and are the tallest known pine tree. One specimen is 268 feet high. Birds love their pine cones and the cover that these trees provide them. The cinnamon-red bark of these trees usually smells like butterscotch to me, although some people think it smells like vanilla. I often stop to smell them. I love these trees and the birds that call them home.