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.