red winged blackbird

Another Spring arrival. Came in with a couple Grackles. Was a very dull drizzly day and a TTW shot so not a great photo. Hoping it comes back when it gets sunny.

Something I didn't know before, but have noticed about these birds since they have been visiting in numbers. They can selectively show or hide the red patches on their wings. All the males that have been coming have just a thin stripe showing. I thought because they were immature males. But...

red winged blackbird

Taken at busch gardens in terrible conditions so just a record shot

Here's the girl the male was so worked up about.

Here he is, wings dropped, tail flicking up and down. He was nervous and anxious because I was sitting on my front step, and he had a female with him. He was watching over her as she went to one of the feeders. After a bit he ignored me and chased two mourning doves who were on the same feeder...

Have three or four that visit almost daily lately. I think they may be all young males, as they never seem to show big shoulder patches, but small slivers of colour like on this guy. Some of them are still showing immature streaky feathers along with a slim shoulder patch.

Have a few coming in with many other "blackbirds" such as starlings and grackles. They all seem to be moving around as a bunch. Don't often get red wings in my yard, so enjoying them while they're here. Haven't managed to get a shot of one in sunlight yet, it's been very dull and...

I managed to get a shot of this young male blackbird perched in a tree after all. Unfortunately it was a rather overcast and dull day, so at full zoom the shot is a bit noisy. But all things considered, it didn't turn out too bad.

Although they are one of the most abundant birds in North america, the Red Winged Blackbird is one I rarely see around my parts for some reason. So I was quite pleased to see an immature male and female pair show up today. Of course I wanted to get a shot of them prettily perched on a tree...

While on Sandy Hook I stopped by to grab something to eat, I saw this Red Winged Blackbird stopping for a quick drink.

I love the color of the red on his wings as this beauty was flying by me. I got lucky again :-)

Male red winged blackbird

This was the perfect setting for this beauty to show off.

It was unusual for me to find a red winged blackbird on the ground. But, he stayed there long enough for me to catch a couple of good shots of him.

This guy was singing for quite a while at the reserve.

Here's a different view of the red on the blackbird's wings. I didn't realize they are bumped up.

This red winged black bird was just perched in a perfect setting.

While at the reserve, the red winged blackbirds were flying everywhere. This one was just giving me a little chance to capture him in flight.

The red winged blackbirds were everywhere in the reeds at the reserve. This one sat long enough for me to take it's picture last spring

Red Winged Blackbird