Tis the beginning of the season for bird romance in the Pacific Northwest. I first heard the chorus of Red-winged Blackbirds singing in the marshes a month and a half ago (!) which is much earlier than usual, but that may have something to do with our warm winter this year. They've been singing and chirping ever since, mostly invisibly, but lately out in the open, perched up high, showing off.
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Rain, sun, wind...insects, birds, flowers...meteorites, rocks...seasonal changes...all are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
February 28, 2015
maritime Pacific Northwest
Brightly colored males are staking out territories and alerting all comers. I recently saw a brief encounter...a flirtation, or ? We all have Red-winged Blackbirds, so perhaps you have seen courting behavior where you live. What think you about this pair?
Mr. RWB was chirping and intermittently singing up on a leafless crabapple tree by a flooded field. Then a female flew in to perch beside him. He bows, clucking quietly:
(All photos by me. In Lightbox...click to enlarge)
But then he turns his back to her. That's an odd way to show interest.
An early naturalist's delightful description of the courtship of these birds:
The courtship of the Red-winged Blackbird centers as distinctly about the display of the scarlet epaulettes as does the courtship of the Peacock about the display of his train. The adult male Red-wing when absorbed in feeding is a plain blackbird with a pale yellow stripe on his shoulder or one with a narrow band of red. The color may even be entirely covered up by the prevailing blackness of his costume. When, however, his love passions are excited he spreads his tail, slightly opens his wings, puffs out all his feathers, and sings his 'quonk-quer-ee,' or his still more watery and gurgling song, appropriate to an oozing bog, his 'ogle-oggle-yer.' Now when he puffs out his body feathers he especially puffs out, erects, and otherwise displays to their best advantage the gorgeous scarlet epaulettes. These patches become actually dazzling in their effect as he slowly flies toward the object of his affections, for these beauty spots are most effective when seen from in front.
- Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1920)
http://birdsbybent.netfirms.com/...
This male RWB does fluff up and flash his fiery red patches, but does it look as good from behind? Her attention is caught by something.
He fluffed and gurgled enthusiastically, apparently trying to turn her way on the bendy twig, but she flew off. When I left a few minutes later, the male was still up on his perch, gazing in her direction, chirping away.
The field here is standing water right now but that's a winter effect. Soon it will dry up. There are small ponds nearby, like the one at the top with cattails, but they have their own males calling and fluttering there. I have to wonder what this momentary encounter signified.
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