Red-winged Blackbird Song

Male Red-winged Blackbird

The Red-winged Blackbird is one of the commonest birds in North America and one of the earliest to arrive here in early spring. I usually see or hear them in the first few days of March, about ten days or so before Robins return.

The Becka phoned me at work to say she heard a RW Blackbird today. (she says she is not interested in birding!) So we took the dog out to the field at the end of our street and sure enough, two males were calling back and forth. One of them posed nicely right in front of me while he belted out his call...conk-a-reeeeeeeee!

Sad to say, this may be the last year the birds return to this old landfill site. A section of the park is now a sledding and biking hill, and the field above is to be developed further this year. Two soccer fields, a parking lot, picnic area and splash pad will be constructed.

Frogs sing and breed in the vernal ponds, Red-tailed hawks and Kestrels hunt for small rodents, ducks, Kildeer and blackbirds nest in the cattails and grass. Many other birds and animals are at home here in the middle of a subdivision. Thirty-five years ago this area was on the edge of the city and undeveloped but houses and malls now sprawl several kilometers beyond this point.

and the squeeze continues...