redbird | red-winged blackbird (Reply)

callunav posted yesterday about a trip to a nature preserve, and seeing red-winged blackbirds. She said she's not used to seeing them on this coast. I don't think of them as unusual: seasonal, yes, but I'm used to finding them in Inwood Hill Park and the Bronx Zoo in the spring and summer.

On Friday afternoon,

cattitude heard one, but didn't see it. This afternoon, he suggested we go out in the park and look for red-winged blackbirds. Sure, why not, just a brief walk (we were both treating today as a rest day). We heard the call before we even got to the bit of wall that overlooks a reedy bit of marsh that they like, and I spotted him almost immediately. So we stood a few minutes and watched and listened, one red-winged blackbird, possibly the first of the spring, or maybe the second (if Cattitude heard a different bird on Friday).

There've been lots of robins around lately, and an unusual number of mourning doves. The usual mallards and Canada geese.

I remember when Canada geese were rare and noteworthy, and almost entirely migratory. Now, they're about as surprising as pigeons, and in some quarters less popular. I still like them.