A group of redwing black birds were at my feeder to greet me this morning. One of the advantages of having the big beaver ponds right in the backyard has been spending twenty-three years getting to know this marshland bird.
Some may not see them as exceptionally beautiful if they are looking for a brightly or unusually colored bird like the summer tanager or one that has incredible markings like the evening grosbeak. And it is true that I fell in love with them first because of their song that I heard all spring and summer out working in the garden. But once I was already in love, seeing the red winged blackbird close up sunk it for me.
Dark shinny black with the most striking contrast of red and yellow epaulets, it is a truly beautiful bird. But yes. the red winged blackbird calls and songs are what I look forward to the most.
Four year old little Stephanie, now twenty-seven years old, and I dubbed it the coco cleo bird when we first heard his song our first spring here at the farm. His song rings loud and clear across the pond all during spring and summer. Once we finally connected the singer with the song he was not the elusive fellow we first thought him to be.
It was rather unusual in my mind to see such a largish bird perched on grass. Little light weight finches on a dandelion stem is understandable but the redwinged black bird seem rather large to perch on grass blades. Yes, he goes to the trees and he certainly visits up by the house and the bird feeders but his common place is hanging on to the side of a sturdy blade of orchard grass pond side.
Two summers ago the girls and I found a redwinged black bird nest on the edge of one of the ponds out back, it was woven of grass using the upright blades of grass as support. It was fascinating to say the least and it was the one time we were sad to leave for vacation and not stay home and watch the hatch and growth of the baby blackbirds.
Dear Reader I hope you appreciated the colored font as my hint of the colors of the red winged black bird, it was the best I could do in lieu of pictures, have a singing good day, evening, weekend, whatever, stay well and thankful that you are God's, and if you're not maybe this weekend would be a good time to ponder that whole thing and accept who you are and who He is.
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8 comments:
i googles this to see what it looked like. it looks like a baltimore oriole to me almost. i am still scared of birds though. goes back to childhood and a robin's egg, a kid told me the mama would find me and peck my eyes out and i still believe her!
smiles, bee
xoxoxooxxoxoxoxo
I love birds...especially songbirds of which we really don't have in my neighborhood.
But... we DO have a huge flock of green parakeets that comes and lands in our tree in the morning and they make a GREAT racket!
Red winged blackbirds are beautiful. We have them around here. I see them often sitting on fences along side the road. I enjoyed reading this post, Lanny. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. :D
Hi Lanny, I loved reading this - I can just picture you and Stephanie in the garden looking for the beautiful bird that belonged to the song you heard. Such a sweet memory and to have found the nest in later years too. Wishing you a nice weekend.
We LOVE wild birds and make multiple bird watching trips throughout the year. Our little acreage have many Redwinged Blackbirds in this neck of the woods. A 'close' neighbor has a large pond and they will sometimes wander over this way to eat at our feeders. They do have a lovely song.
We're enjoying Gold Finches and Pine Siskin's in our feeders as I speak. ♥ ∞
My favorite bird is the crow-so you can see I'm not picky about bright colors. Neat that you look for their return each year.
I have seen these birds out in the countryside. They are beautiful and your blog was beautifully written.
My favorite is the eastern blue bird.
Karen
Aha - one bird I actually can recognize - I love the birds around our place and today saw the first (for me) robin of the year. I do love meadowlarks and of course mockingbirds. My mom's favorites were hummingbirds. Something magical about how delicate yet strong birds are. Hope you are feeling much better!
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