Friday, March 19, 2010

Blackbirds Welcome Spring

Singing Red-winged Blackbird

With the coming of warmer weather the numbers of blackbirds have built considerably over the last few days. The male Red-winged blackbirds were the first to arrive. I observed my first red-winged male two weeks ago. The wetlands now are ringing with their melodious song and today I observed my first female. The female stayed partially concealed flitting about the underbrush and never allowed me an opportunity for a photograph.


Grackle Pair

During this past week I began to notice grackles arriving and today good sized flocks were evident around my home. This pair perched in the top of an evergreen tree growing beside our home. Opening the door just a crack I was able to capture this image of the pair. Notice how iridescent the male is compared to the female.

The glistening male lingered for a moment after the female had departed

We have been experiencing unseasonably warm weather the over the past few days and it is to continue into Sunday. Showers forecast to begin Sunday evening will drop temperatures back into the normal range for the beginning of the week. With the weather we have been having the past few days it’s hard to imagine that just two weeks ago ice covered our lakes and wetlands and snow blanketed the ground.

8 comments:

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Wow,that Grackle is gorgeous.
Blessings,Ruth

??? said...

Lovely pictures. I saw a lot of Red-winged Blackbirds during my stay in the US, but never heard them sing - at least I don't think I did - I have a hard time identifying European birds by their song, let alone North American ones ;)

The eyes of the grackles are striking.

imac said...

Birds of a feather Coy.
Great captures.
Love your Header too.

Mary Howell Cromer said...

Enjoyed all of the images, yet the Red-Winged Blackbird is my favorite. We had one visit a year ago this past winter and that is only time in 30 years they have been on our property. They do hang out about a mile, or two from here and I see them when driving about. Almost always on a fence of some kind and I can always hear their voice~

Tom said...

Great post Salty.... I do like those Grackles... Abe Lincoln had some on his blog feeding young... like yours the colouring shows up very well.

Chris said...

Wow Coy, these are stunning pictures. The first one is really well captured and the Grackle are wonderful!

Kerri Farley said...

Great captures! Happy Spring!

Montanagirl said...

I have to admit, I'm not a fan of Grackles, but there's no denying they're beautiful, especially when the sun hits them. Your photos are great.