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Red-winged or putative
Tricolored Blackbird
and Common Grackle
(foreground) |
This morning there was a rush of activity with
Common Grackle at the bird feeder. It was one of those sightings where it looked like seven or eight were going to rush the place. Last year, the grackles didn't seem to be able to adjust to the new feeder - they couldn't figure out how to perch on the small footings. This morning they showed themselves to be quite adept, and at least three at a time were feeding. While all of the jet-black darts were attaching themselves to the feeder, or gleaning below on the ground, all of a sudden a white-streaked wing fell in among those on the ground - and then another, and another. While catching some pictures, I noticed a faint red streak above the white - Tricolored Blackbird I thought, until I looked in my National Geographic bird guide. These are only supposed to be found in the
far west of North America - not here where only the ubiquitous
Red-winged blackbirds are found that range across the continent, or perhaps a variant with a more-white-than-yellow is in my yard. We have had
Brewer's Blackbirds in the yard, but these were the first other blackbird species I had seen here - other than a Red-winged I once saw near an estuary toward the Chesapeake Bay off of Route 50. Regardless of the species, it is worth the
time to learn more about the Tricolor Blackbird - a declining species. Much of the natural wetland habitat in the
San Joaquin River Valley is gone, replaced by irrigated agriculture.
What a fun and interesting blog. Combining birding and book reviews. I actually started a second blog though for reviews as I found some of the regular readers got confused by mixing nature and fiction. :)
ReplyDeleteJeff - I was so happy to find your blog through Google. I have never blogged but signed up when I saw your blog about the Tricolored Blackbird. I live on the Western Shore (Calvert Cliffs) and have been photographing the wildlife here for 10 years. I have never - until this winter - seriously photographed the smaller birds - almost exclusively the birds of prey. In any event - I walked in late this afternoon from work and the sound of my high heeled boots on the kitchen floor scared a huge gathering of blackbirds under the feeder in the backyard. As they flew off I saw a streak of red and was upset that I - once again - had missed the elusive Redwinged Blackbird -only one of which I had seen a few weeks ago and could not get his photo. As fate would have it - about 20 or more came back for about a minute -and I got a few quick pictures off of this gathering. At the time - I thought they looked odd. NOW I know why. It was a huge flock of Tricolored Blackbirds. What a surprise. Thanks for posting this -AND I didn't know how lucky I really was until I read what you wrote.
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