I had a chance to get a few more shots of these Blackbird hatchlings today. The light and the chicks were much more cooperative than they were the other day, and it was really fun to see them light up whenever anyone passed by. Their parents weren’t very happy, but I guess that’s their fault for building their nest in a very public area where people pass by regularly.
Here are a few more images of these cute and fuzzy birds.
A friend pointed out this nest in the hedge in front of our office building today. She was very excited to see these freshly hatched chicks instinctively opening their mouths anytime somebody passed by. Seeing them all stuffed together in such a little nest, with their necks stretched straight up toward the sky with their mouths open reminded me of watching cartoons when I was a kid. I can vividly remember images of the farmer’s wife baking a blackbird pie. It seems awful now, but I remember it being very funny back then!
Their parents weren’t very happy that we were close to their nest though and they chattered angrily from the adjacent trees. I guess they should have picked a more secluded location to build their nest… The adults had been dive-bombing me every time I passed near that spot over the previous few days, so I was pretty sure they had a nest in those shrubs, only I didn’t quite know where. I made as many images as I could in just a couple of minutes, and when I left the adults were back on the nest before I was out of sight.
Well I’ve been pretty much overwhelmed by life and other pursuits this week and haven’t found the time to process all my images, never mind prepare any blog posts about them. The coming week doesn’t look to be any better and I’ll be preparing for a family vacation for the following week. I hope to get a few posts prepared in advance before we go, but I can’t promise anything.
In the mean time I wanted to share a link to some amazing Prairie Falcon flight images posted by Calgary area nature photographer Rob McKay. I’ve posted about Rob’s work before and since then I have come to realize that he is a master of photographing birds in flight. The main image in the gallery he posted today is absolutely incredible. I see Falcons pretty regularly in my travels but have never had an opportunity to make any images like these, so that makes them even better!
I had a chance to make a quick trip to Frank Lake the other day. I didn’t have high expectations as the good light had already passed and I didn’t have time for the patience normally required to make good images at a place like Frank Lake. I was happily surprised to find the lake teeming with activity and I spent a much longer time at the main blind than I normally do. There were Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Common Terns, and Franklin’s Gulls flying all over the place. There were also a few Ruddy Ducks and White-Faced Ibis’ in the pools near the blind, and literally too many other birds to count (or identify) off in the distance. I found this very accommodating Grebe near the blind. It swam by several times and circled around while giving my some great photo opportunities. I really love going to Frank Lake and only wish I had more opportunities to make the trip…
This is the first Kingbird I’ve seen this season. Although technically a songbird, their call is no substitute for a meadowlark! I’ve never heard one singing before though so this was a pretty cool encounter for me. And it’s always cool when a bird will continue to sing while it’s being watched rather than immediately flying away instead.
These are some of the later birds to show up in the Calgary area in the spring and their arrival is a pretty good sign that summer is just around corner. The main reason for their late arrival is that they overwinter in South America. That’s a long way to fly in the spring and the fall!