Mountain Bluebird

Andrew, I will defer to your ID as you were there and I wasn't. My ID was based solely on your photo. Either way, Mountain or Western, they are beautiful birds.

They were blue and grey only--no rust at all. I guess it's tricker to see with the pic in the shade.

Andrew, Mountain Bluebird has upper blue to blue-gray breast fading into gray on lower portion. Your picture seems to have a dark upper breast that appears somewhat rust colored to me. I'll certainly defer to you as to what you saw but picture suggests Western Bluebird. See pics of Mountain Bluebird at:http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/mountain_bluebird/id

Sunny day, but in shade. I was thinking maybe Mountain Bluebird? I understand Western Bluebirds have rust coloring as well, and these had no rust at all. On the other hand, Mountain Bluebirds have white on their chests, and these had dark grey. So this one's throwing me for a loop. This sighting was in Zion National Park.

I'm suggesting Western Bluebird thought the breast appears much darker in the photo than what you see in most of the field guides. May just be the lighting in the photo -- cloudy day, dusk? As always, I am ready to be corrected if someone has a better ID.