Showing off for the females

NOTE: 30 May 2016, people can't upload new photos this morning/today either by using the 'new' uploader of the old one. Lots of complaints on the Help Forum, but no word from any staff members yet - a public holiday in the US, unfortunately, though you would think that they would have at least one person available on standby to help. I guess, not Flickr!

All three photos posted this morning were taken late afternoon/early evening yesterday, 28 May 2016, along the backroads SW of the city. This Red-winged Blackbird was such a "cooperative" guy for a few brief seconds, which I really appreciated. Usually, I find these Red-winged Blackbirds fly to the next fence post as soon as you pull up slowly beside them, and then do the same if you pull up beside that post.

This was just a short drive, as I had been out for four hours in the morning, taking part in the May Species Count. The group I was with covered the Votier's Flats/Shaw Meadows area of Fish Creek Provincial Park. Fortunately, rain stayed away after quite a lot of rain recently. Hopefully, the same happens today, our second day of the count.

"One of the most abundant birds across North America, and one of the most boldly colored, the Red-winged Blackbird is a familiar sight atop cattails, along soggy roadsides, and on telephone wires. Glossy-black males have scarlet-and-yellow shoulder patches they can puff up or hide depending on how confident they feel. Females are a subdued, streaky brown, almost like a large, dark sparrow. In the North, their early arrival and tumbling song are happy indications of the return of spring." From Cornell's AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/red-winged_blackbird/id?utm_s...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-winged_blackbird