Monday, March 22, 2010

The Red Wings are Here!

One of our earliest signs of spring here on the Cape is the all out return of the blackbirds, both the red-winged blackbirds and the grackles. Some stay all winter and some straggle in the last week in February and the first few weeks of March but today was the first day I saw hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them....everywhere we went.
They were stirring up quite a racket in the trees, in the bushes, even on the wires all along the marshes and wetlands.
In the fog and gray their colors were not as distinctive or bright as they will be on a bright sunny day but you can still see this fellow's red epaulet as he lets everyone know he's in the area.
I love how they put their whole body into their exclamation. There's no doubt who is king of this here branch....
Listen for their "rusty gate" calls that sound sort of like "conk-a-reeeee." These birds were photographed today in Harwich.

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