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ssheipel

ssheipel

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Heard one a few weeks ago; spotted a single non breeding male a week ago, and this past weekend there were a couple dozen males singing their songs of spring where I found myself with camera! Impossible to have a favourite, but these birds are so inextricably linked to my childhood in my memory (we had a marsh behind our house filled with blackbirds), that the Red-winged Blackbird is way up the list of my favourites :)


First RWB of 2024 sized.jpg
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DripDryMcFleye said:
I'm another fan who enjoys the RWBB. I got my first shots of the season just yesterday at a park near the lake.
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'tis the season! Most spots here the birds are so acclimatized to humans that there is very little dive bombing of photographers going on; one spot though I'll be parking my butt to see if I can get any 'in coming!' shots as they males try to take my hat off :)
 
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K9Kirk said:
Nice shot, steven. as a kid, they were right up there next to blue jays and cardinals. Good exp. on this guy without the bg being too bight.
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Thank you! It was an overcast day and this was very early. I've seen of course that creamy fringing and spotting on these birds but the light on this one really brought it out like I've never really seen before, nicely. Cheers!
 
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ssheipel said:
Heard one a few weeks ago; spotted a single non breeding male a week ago, and this past weekend there were a couple dozen males singing their songs of spring where I found myself with camera! Impossible to have a favourite, but these birds are so inextricably linked to my childhood in my memory (we had a marsh behind our house filled with blackbirds), that the Red-winged Blackbird is way up the list of my favourites :)


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Beautiful shot Steven! I feel exactly the same way. I did a lot of freshwater fishing as a kid and these guys remind me of my younger years everytime I hear them sing. When I was out shooting on Friday I was recalling those wonderful memories in the spring and summers along the lake. Well done! 👍👍👍
 
Around here it seems anywhere we find cattails we see them. Saw a couple at a Cleveland Metropark yesterday.
 
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ssheipel said:
Heard one a few weeks ago; spotted a single non breeding male a week ago, and this past weekend there were a couple dozen males singing their songs of spring where I found myself with camera! Impossible to have a favourite, but these birds are so inextricably linked to my childhood in my memory (we had a marsh behind our house filled with blackbirds), that the Red-winged Blackbird is way up the list of my favourites :)


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That’s simply spectacular.
 
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Gaduf said:
Nice image Steven,
I've never seen one of these birds.
Not endemic in my part of the world.
Thanks for sharing.
Gavin
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Thanks Gavin. Some estimates put RWBBs as the most numerous bird in North America, and growing. Where I frequent, however, while I see large numbers (and see them everywhere -- I've seen them nesting in flooded ditches) I don't see the very large groupings like I once did.
 
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Callie said:
Steven - love that red shoulder patch! nice image!
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Thanks Caille. The flex of the wing here really reveals the full extent of those colour patches; resting they appear as thin lines, the yellow often not visible at all. And non breeding males and off breeding season males the extend and the vibrance of the colours is greatly reduced. These birds are famous for 'attacking' people; behaviourally the males spend all day (females too to a different extent) in a full on territorial dispute with each other. End of day, they are known to then come together in friendly flocks :)
 
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Ralph said:
Beautiful shot Steven! I feel exactly the same way. I did a lot of freshwater fishing as a kid and these guys remind me of my younger years everytime I hear them sing. When I was out shooting on Friday I was recalling those wonderful memories in the spring and summers along the lake. Well done! 👍👍👍
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Thanks Ralph. We might need to rename them Nostalgia Blackbirds!
 
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ssheipel said:
Thanks Caille. The flex of the wing here really reveals the full extent of those colour patches; resting they appear as thin lines, the yellow often not visible at all. And non breeding males and off breeding season males the extend and the vibrance of the colours is greatly reduced. These birds are famous for 'attacking' people; behaviourally the males spend all day (females too to a different extent) in a full on territorial dispute with each other. End of day, they are known to then come together in friendly flocks :)
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Steven - interesting behavior. They are very nice birds and the aggressiveness makes it easier to get them inflight? Some of our birds also have these shoulder patches that are covered / not easy to see unless it is breading season and they display!
 
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JAS said:
Great capture! They are everywhere. They are annoying, but fun to photograph with their personailities!
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Thanks, Joe! But 'annoying' -- blasphemy! :ROFLMAO: If I place myself right in a marsh I can have several males make me enemy number one :D
 
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Callie said:
Steven - interesting behavior. They are very nice birds and the aggressiveness makes it easier to get them inflight? Some of our birds also have these shoulder patches that are covered / not easy to see unless it is breading season and they display!
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They are on the move quite a bit in their territorial dances, but nicely also spend a lot of time at some unknown to me distance from each other, usually on marsh reeds yelling their glorious songs at each other making composing photos easier. I need to focus on getting an 'incoming' BIF shot of them -- they're generally so ubiquitous where I shoot that photographing them has become a secondary concern :)
 
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