RH Speirs | Photographer - Blackbirds (Various), May, 2022

The Blackbirds seem to be in full force within our local area now. In fact, I refer to the Red-wings as the "Air Force", as they seem to be able to control any air space they want to, if there are enough of them. At least I refer to them as that at the Marshall Springs ponds, located in Fish Creek Provincial Park, the place I spend more time observing wildlife than anywhere else. They totally dominate the air space around the ponds, and team up to run off any other bird species they don't want around. They have a certain call they use as an alarm system to control the area. They seem to tolerate the other bird species if they don't fly around all that much, and spend most of their time on the ground or water. The other bird species, like Grebes, Geese, and Cormorants for example, utilize, and benefit from, this alarm system too. I've observed, many times, while closely watching Grebes, when the Red-winged Blackbird's alarm sounds, all eyes look to the sky to watch out for birds of prey circling from above the area. If the Red-wings do happen to be running off a predator, doesn't matter what it is; Hawks, Eagles, Osprey, Herons, they are totally relentless about it. It's quite something to observe. Only when they get busy raising their young, a bit later on in the season, will they ease up slightly about their total control and harassing ways. Right now it seems to be about pairing up, and establishing specific territories, for them.

Red-winged Blackbird (male), Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 12th

Red-winged Blackbird (male) in flight, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 12th

Red-winged Blackbird (male), Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 12th

Red-winged Blackbird (male), Bridlewood Wetlands Park, Calgary, AB - May 16th

Yellow-headed Blackbird (male), Bridlewood Wetlands Park, Calgary, AB - May 16th

Red-winged Blackbird (female), Bridlewood Wetlands Park, Calgary, AB - May 16th

I quite like these portraits of this female Red-wing (below), as the background is just so nice a clean. Even the one (above) where she's just taking off is quite clean. So not the case with the Common Grackle photos (bottom of this page)..just can't seem to get those extremely skittish birds in a nice clean photo lol. Will keep trying.

Red-winged Blackbird (female), Bridlewood Wetlands Park, Calgary, AB - May 16th

This Yellow-head (below) appears to be eyeing up an insect flying near by.

Yellow-headed Blackbird (male), Bridlewood Wetlands Park, Calgary, AB - May 16th

Yellow-headed Blackbird (male) in flight, Bridlewood Wetlands Park, Calgary, AB - May 16th

This Yellow-head (below) is captured in this shot, catching an insect in its bill while in flight.

Yellow-headed Blackbird (male) in flight, Bridlewood Wetlands Park, Calgary, AB - May 16th

Common Grackle, Bridlewood Wetlands Park, Calgary, AB - May 16th

Blackbirds (Various), May, 2022 - Calgary, AB

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