Red-winged Blackbird

I love the song of the male Red-winged Blackbird. And they are especially fun to photograph in the Spring as they allow you to get closer than other times of the year. This is especially true right now at RNWR along the same stretch of the Auto Tour where the Soras and Virginia Rails are found. The blackbirds love to perch on the Cattails and there is short area where they are commonly right along the road.
Even some females got into the action during my last visit. Females typically stay a little more hidden down in the reeds and brush.

Red-winged Blackbird

I made a trip around the auto tour at RNWR yesterday. Around marker 3, I came upon a couple of immature male Red-winged Blackbirds sitting in the cattails right along side the road. I saw a couple of similar immature Red-wingeds last year around this time.
The yellowish edges of the black feathers of an immature male adds an interesting feature to their plumage that I like. I've seen images of immature males on the internet with yellowish shoulder coloring. These male's wing patches are fully red except for a little yellow mixed in that you can see in the image below.

I've noticed that while we've had Red-winged Blackbirds here most all of the Winter, they are starting to sing again like other birds have. It's great to hear that unmistakable song the male sings during the breeding season.

Red-winged Blackbird - Mother and Juvenile

While duck and geese juveniles have been apparent for some time, I am now starting to see song bird juveniles. When I came upon the Red-winged Blackbird in the top image I didn't realize at first that it was a juvenile. I became suspicious since it didn't fly as quickly as I would have expect and there was a fair amount of blackbird activity around it.
Then it became obvious when it started calling out and it's mother swooped in with some food. While I saw the mother feed the juvenile, I unfortunately missed that shoot with my camera.

Red-winged Blackbird - Female

This female Red-winged Blackbird was rummaging around among these plant stalks above the mud that was the bed of a large water pond just a couple of weeks earlier. As it clung to the stalks, trying to remain upright and balanced, the results were interesting poses that you would not normally see. While not as striking as its male counter part, I find the female Red-winged Blackbird's coloration to be beautiful in its own right.

Red-winged Blackbird

I was walking along the trench at TRNWR when I noticed a male and female Red-wing Blackbirds getting agitated by my presence. I assume they have a nest near by. The male started flying close by overhead, so I thought I'd take advantage and see if I could get some interesting shots of it flying up close. It was very difficult to follow along since it was flying fast and close. Most of the pictures I took were out of focus and poorly composed, but this one was interesting. The focus isn't perfect, nor is the exposure, but the Blackbird's pose is spectacular.

Red-winged Blackbird

I took a quick walk around the smaller road loop at TRNWR over lunch today. It's been a while since I've done that. Turned out to be a pretty productive walk. Among many pretty good pictures, this picture of a Red-winged Blackbird is my favorite. They are hard to shoot because they are so black. Since they typically sit in trees, there is usually a bright sky behind them screwing up the exposure. Also, they tend to be a bit flighty so it is hard to get in close. This Red-winged let me creep in pretty close and with the darker background, its features can be seen quite well.

Red-winged Blackbird - Immature

It's interesting how you can get so caught up in the process of picture taking that sometimes that you don't realize what you shot. That happened in this case. I was looking though some of the pictures from the bird blind (I still haven't gotten through all of them) and came across these pictures of an immature male Red-winged Blackbird. I thought I was shooting a male and a female at the time I shot these pictures.