My Saturday Bird this week is the Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus). The species is found in most of North America and much of Central America.
Northern populations are migratory heading south for the winter. This is a male singing to proclaim his territory and attract a mate having just arrived in central Saskatchewan, Canada in the spring.
This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge: First Hints of Spring prompt.
It was snowing hard when Dale posted the prompt so my contribution is from my archives.
Two hints of spring, a male Orange Tip Butterfly feeding on Bluebells in Cheshire, England.
A hint of spring, ice on Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada breaking up during the spring thaw.
A hint of spring, a recently arrived male Yellow-headed Blackbird singing to proclaim his territory in Saskatchewan, Canada.
A hint of spring, a male Common Merganser swimming amongst ice on Lake Huron at Southampton, Ontario, Canada during the spring thaw. The Common Merganser is known as the Goosander in Europe.
Singing Up in spring.
This is my day 11 contribution to Becky’s January Squares on the theme of Up.
A male Yellow-headed Blackbird singing Up to proclaim its territory and attract a mate near Punnichy, Saskatchewan, Canada.
My idea for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Sense of Hearing quickly came to mind. Waking up in the spring to various birds singing and calling to proclaim their territories made it an obvious choice.
In the spring the males of lots of bird species are proclaiming their territories by singing and calling. As much as humans may enjoy hearing some of these songs they’re doing it to let rival males know they’re claiming the area as their territory and to attract a female.
A European Robin proclaims the area as his territory, Faddiley, Cheshire.
A male Yellow-headed Blackbird proclaiming his territory in Saskatchewan.
A Tree Pipit singing from the top of a tree on Bickerton Hill in southern Cheshire.
A male Red-winged Blackbird proclaiming his territory in Saskatchewan.
This is my day seven contribution to Becky’s April Squares: Top photo challenge.
After posting autumn tree tops for the challenge yesterday I considered a sequence of tree squares but thought that may get repetitive. As I have a few bird squares for April and not having posted a bird species yet I thought it was time for a bird.
A male Yellow-headed Blackbird singing from the top of a Cattail to proclaim his territory having recently arrived in Saskatchewan for the summer.
