Random Acts of Living


Saturday, May 1, 2010

Pre-Forrest, Return of the Sparrows & Blackbirds

I took the picture below just over a week ago. I have seen the maple trees covered with lots of seeds before but I don't recall ever having seen them "planted" so profusely before.
The little whirlybird seeds waved their flags after the heavy winds had evenly cast them everywhere.
The Barn Swallows are back. I don't know how long swallows live, so I don't know if these had ever really been here before or not.
But they found the broken down nest that hasn't been occupied by a Barn Swallow in several years. Many other birds have lived there and this last winter I spotted at least one bird finding a calm place in it out of the cold winter wind.
Then several weeks ago I looked out the kitchen window and spotted this bird...
I had never seen these around here before and had to go in an look them up.
They are Yellowheaded Blackbirds and are just passing though.
I thought I had remembered seeing them somewhere before and I had, Anita photographed them in September of 2008 at Greensburg.

5 comments:

KansasA said...

I saw one last year at my feeder but didn't get great pics of it. I too had to go look it up because I'd never seen them before, couldn't believe how big it was! :)

Peter said...

Hi! You certainly have a great range of birds out your way. Back here native birds are run off by the likes of Indian Minors.

Now, I checked out that site you suggested but the clips are only available if you live in the US. It's a shame as I had my heart set on watching Adam - 12. Not to worry though.

Take Care,
Peter

Moonshadow said...

Kansas - I didn't always have trees, so it's great to see all these interesting birds come through. I'd love to see some hummers like you get! :)

Peter - OH! I had to look up your Indian Minors (Mynas). Can these 'talk'? My uncle had a myna bird once and it started immitating my uncle's laughter and a noise they weren't sure WHAT it was. They thought it was maybe the sewing maching. We have some bully birds around her too, they're called Jays.

Sorry about the Hulu thing, I didn't know. You might google "anonymous ip" to be able to get around the restriction. :(

Girl Tornado said...

I haven't seen the yellow-headed blackbirds before, how cool looking! And I love our barn swallows. We've got quite a few this year, swooping all over the place. As for those whirlybirds... I haven't seen those since I left Ohio. They used to COVER my patio in Ohio!

Moonshadow said...

This was the first time I saw the yellow-headed blackbirds here. We've only had the one nest, which is unusual, they normally live in colonies. There are other barn swallows that fly with these, but I don't know where they nest. Our nest had been empty for a couple of years, other than squatters of some other type. They've had to rebuild the nest. They ARE a lot of fun to watch, especially if you have a colony. I'm surprised you don't have maple trees there. You should plant some. The trees in my yard were seedlings from my mother's neighbors tree.