Beauty in black - Red-winged Blackbird

 Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) is a symbol of spring. Every spring, when I see them visiting the feeder in our backyard, I know that nature is waking up. The male's conk-la-ree is a classic sound of wetlands in the spring in and around Edmonton and many parts of Alberta. These males are gorgeous black in colour with distinctive red shoulder patches that are visible when the bird is in flight or in display. At rest, males also show a white or pale yellow wing bar. These wing markings are very important in defending the male's territory. Males with larger spots are more effective in chasing away the rival males.

On this Sunday morning, as I am looking through the window at our snow-covered backyard, I am thinking of those blackbirds visiting the feeders again and calling out loudly the arrival of spring. A few months and it will happen again..........


A high key frame of a male in early spring











Every time I look at this photo, I remember Joe Cocker's song "Bye Bye Blackbird."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hallgrímskirkja - The largest church in Iceland

Image
On my first full day in Reykjavik, Iceland, I visited Hallgrímskirkja or the Church of Hallgrímur. It is a Lutheran church located in the centre of Reykjavik. It is named after the most renowned sacred poet of Iceland, Hallgrímur Petursson. At 74.5 meters (244 feet), it is the largest church in Iceland and one of the tallest structures in the country. The construction was started in 1945 and was completed after 41 years in 1986. The basalt-column motif soaring skyward is an ode to modernism and reminder of the Icelandic landscape. It has a carillon of bells at its top that rings every hour. In fact, when we arrive there, we got to hear the charming sound of these bells. The statue of Icelandic explorer Leif Erikson stands in front of the church. It was a gift from the USA to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the convening of Iceland’s parliament in Þingvellir in 930 AD. Erikson was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot in continental America, a...
Read more

The Greatest Show on Earth

Image
 I am back to my blog after more than a year! Like the last post, this is also about Aurora Borealis.  What a show it was! There had been buzz in the social media last week about the gigantic solar storm. It was supposed to be one of the largest in last 24 years. Hence, everybody was expecting a major Aurora event. Then, Lady Aurora showed up on Friday (May 11, 2024) night. As we first looked outside at around 10:30 PM, we could see some light green and purple. As we were getting closer to the midnight, the colours started to intensify. At arounf midnight, the sky literally irrupted in multiple colours - green, yellow, pink, and gorgeous red! We observed the show from our window, backyard and the driveway from 10:30 PM - 12:45 AM and we didn't know how the time went by.  The great thing about this aurora was that it had been witnessed by the huge part of the Northern Hemisphere, in places like England (including the city of London), Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and even Lada...
Read more