Distinguishing Individuals

Meet William, the Red-winged Blackbird.

It is not very often that I give individual wild creatures a name.  One reason for this is because I can't usually tell them apart.   All Chickadees look alike to me, try though I might to recognize feather patterns or other characteristics that would help me know them as individuals.  

Same way with most birds.  When they are nesting, I know that the male and female Bluebirds using a particular box are those particular individuals, but for the most part my brain doesn't seem up to the challenge of recognizing tiny differences that would help me tell birds of the same species apart.   (There's an interesting article here about that subject).

But, this January, I had the privilege to have one Red-winged Blackbird as a distinguished individual at my feeders.  I held off naming him for quite awhile, but then one day it just seemed to me that he needed a name and the name "William" came to me.  I liked that name because at times he looked rather dignified, so he could be called by his full name-- and at other times he acted more like a "Willie" and I could call him that.

Rather interestingly, the book I was reading during the same time that William was hanging out at our feeders was this:

Published in 2006, it's a story by Bob Levy of his birding experiences in Central Park, featuring George, a Red-winged Blackbird that came to his hand for peanuts.  It's a good, light read if you are interested in birding.  Obviously, I'm not the only one who names their wild bird friends. 

At first, William was a little skittish.  When I pointed my camera out the window, he usually took off immediately.  But he eventually got used to it.

Isn't he a handsome bird?

I'm guessing he's a youngish bird because of the brown on the edges of his feathers.

He was not picky about where he would eat.  The sunflowers in the feeders were his first choice, but corn on the ground was okay, too.

Or eating on the bird table on a very cold day when it was necessary to fluff out those feathers to keep warm.

Sometimes he would just sit in the sunshine-- maybe he enjoyed the thermal effect of sun on black feathers?

You can't see much of his red epaulets in any of these photos.  William didn't need to show them to defend his territory since he was the only one of his kind around.

Above is a photo of one of the many Red-winged Blackbirds in our swamp last summer.  Looks like he was defending a nest territory.

In the next photo you can see another bird in the spring time showing the difference between its all black feathers and William's more mottled look.

Male Red-wings are an easy bird for most people to recognize, but the females are a little trickier.  In fact, I'd say they are one of the more confusing birds for beginning birders.  They don't look at all like the males (except for size and bill-shape) and they look more like sparrows.  Here's a female that was recovering from being stunned from a window strike, in my daughter's hands.

Females arrive here a week or so after the males in the spring and they tend to be more secretive, especially during nesting season, and I don't have any other photos of them.  

Meanwhile, in the spring the males are singing their hearts out on prominent perches trying to persuade a female to be their mate.  If you would like to read more about blackbird behavior, I recommend this article called 'Interpreting Red-winged Blackbird Behavior'.

Back to the present... at least back to January 17th.  It was a rather nasty day, with sleet and snow coming down.  William didn't look too happy.

He still was eating at the feeder though.

But that turned out to be the last day I saw him.  I'm hopeful that he decided to follow the rest of the flock to a more southern location.  I hope that if he did, he enjoyed the blizzard they had!  We didn't get any snow from the huge storm... maybe he should have stayed here.

I thought a day or two later I had another individual I could recognize because it was the only one at the feeders.

But then two more Starlings showed up and all three looked identical to me!  I wonder if I will 'know' William if he returns in the spring with dozens of his kind?  I'm guessing not! 

Heron vs. Osprey - "Inside Out" Style

Have you seen "Inside Out" the new Disney Pixar movie?  My husband and I saw it recently, and while I was mulling over how to write about the Heron vs. Osprey incident that took place in our swamp yesterday, "Inside Out" was still in the back of my mind.  If you haven't seen the movie, it is a comical look inside a young girl's brain; focusing on her emotions of joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust.  In the credits at the end, glimpses inside a dog and a cat's brains are shown, too. (Which was one of the best parts of the movie by the way, and the movie was very good!).  

I suppose that is what got me thinking about what we might see if we could look into the brains of  the following 'characters'.  

First, let me introduce them to you, in order of their appearance.  There was an osprey-- a large hawk with long legs and strong talons which it uses to catch fish.  There was comic relief in the form of a red-winged blackbird.  The final character was a great-blue heron.  Oh, and me... watching the whole thing-- and I can, for sure, tell you what the 'little voices' inside my head were saying! 

Me:  Wow, what a gorgeous bird, I'm so glad to see it! 

Me:  Well, this is nice but not very exciting.  I'll watch a little longer anyway.

Osprey: I feel I should turn around.  My neck is starting to hurt.

Me:  Okay, that's better, at least he moved.

 Osprey:  I know that lady is watching me, but I don't care.

RWBL: Sneak attack!  Hee heee....

Osprey:  Did I just feel something?  Oh well, no bother.

RWBL: What?  What just happened, did I really just bounce off an osprey?

Me:  I need to change my camera settings for action shots.  Maybe the blackbird will be back.

(Settings changed... just in the nick of time!)

Heron:  This is my swamp!  My tree! And MY FISHING SPOT!

Osprey:  But, but, ummm... but, I wasn't doing anything!

Heron:  Doesn't matter, I want you to GO!

Me: Oh my!  That heron is almost hovering like a hummingbird!  This is crazy!

Osprey:  I think it's time to get out of here.

Heron: Yes, GO!

Me: I can't believe I just saw that! 

Heron: Pssht!  I showed that osprey what's what.

But wait....

Osprey:  That perch is worth another try.  Wonder if the heron was really serious?

Heron: You betcha!

 Once again, peace (and the 'King' Heron) reigned over the swamp.

Heron:  Satisfaction, a job well done... time to get back to fishing.

Me: I can't believe I saw that, and I hope the photos turn out! 

The whole episode took slightly over 6 minutes, with a couple of those minutes consumed by the heron just sitting on top of the tree. 

I apologize to the serious ornithologists out there who may be offended by my anthropomorphic commentary.  But, if anyone from Pixar sees this and wants to purchase the rights to the story, I think it could be made into a great 'short'!  

*wink wink*

Pale March

"Pale March sunlight spreads across a world bleached free of color".

Thus begins the narrative on the page for Red-winged Blackbirds in the 'Book of North American Birds' from Reader's Digest.  I bought this book awhile back at a library used book sale, and while it is not as factual as a lot of other bird guides (rather more poet, as you can tell from the above quote), it is worth the price I paid, for the charming prose. 

Red-winged blackbirds have always been a wonderful sign of spring to me, even more so than the beloved-by-many Robins!  I have fond memories of them returning to our farm in the spring. How wonderful it was to have them back-- and singing like crazy, near the creek as I walked to the school bus stop.  I still love them and as luck would have it, I now live near a beaver swamp that draws them in by the dozens.  

I mentioned our vanguard red-wing in a recent post.  He arrived on March 4th.

During the winter of 2012-13, we had one male red-winged blackbird that stayed all winter.  Possibly he enjoyed the cracked corn at our feeding table so much he didn't want to leave, or there was something wrong with his internal migration sense.  Everyone else went to Panama or Costa Rica or somewhere nice and warm for the winter but he did not.  Other years, our red-wing blackbirds have arrived back here as early as February 28 or as late as March 9th.

Now, they are back once again, and they are hungry!!!

Their friends, the Common Grackles have also arrived back in mass.  

To add to the quote about March being bleached of color, I have to say it's also dirty!  Dirty snow and dirty cars.  So, let's find some color where we can.

The grackles actually have very beautiful blue heads when the sunlight hits them.  And if you look at them closely in their group photo above, you'll see how they are quite iridescent with blues and purples.  

The red-winged blackbirds in the photos above aren't showing much of their name-sake red.  So I decided to try to get a photograph of one showing it for you.  But first, this grackle was being photogenic. 

Then, this happened...

Sometimes you just can't plan these things!  It was a red-winged blackbird coming in for a landing.

"Thanks for the strange and wonderful display of your red epaulets, sir!"

For the most part, the birds arriving back from the migration are eager to eat, and they will share the food table with the birds that have been around all winter, like this blue jay and mourning dove.

Occasionally a scrabble will break out and one of the blackbirds will display its' red wings and fan out it's tail to show the others who is boss!

 Meanwhile, I'm helping the corn farmers and local feed store -- we're going thru lots of cracked corn and mixed bird seed!  They eat like crazy then spend some time sitting in the trees nearby.

There's not much use in searching the swamp for potential nesting spots, as the females have not arrived back yet.  They won't be back for a few more weeks... smart ladies!   You can see what the females look like in the top photo.  They are very different looking than the males.  The first year males are a little different looking themsevles -- they have color at the ends of their feather compared to the older males with their all black feathers.  

Older male on the left, first-year male on the right.

Once the ladies arrive back, then the competition will heat up (along with the weather, I hope!) Other birds are already starting their contests, but that's a story for another day.