Although I couldn’t see clearly as I came along the boardwalk with the sun in my eyes, that reedy whistle was unmistakable. I don’t know if this guy was singing for his supper, but after hand feeding red-winged blackbirds in the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, I wasn’t really surprised that he seemed content to sit on the railing as people went by, quite close.
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Upcoming this Week & Blog Memory of the Week
Here it is, the second-last long weekend of the summer.
And here it is, a little rant on the confusion of holidays celebrated this weekend across Canada.
Photo Memory of the Week
Music of the Week – In Memoriam Edition
Article of the Week
As to why all this has been banished from official memory, it has everything to do with the way postmodern historians, pseudo-left academic activists and a succession of Liberal politicians have shaped the way we are allowed to talk about ourselves. About the way we are instructed to talk about slavery, about racism, immigration and the dynamic role Indigenous people played in building a new world from the late 1700s to well into the 20th century. - Emancipation Day: Against Revisionism, by Terry Glavin
Posted: 2025 Aug 03
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Guess they to have become blasé about humans at many of the Florida boardwalks.
Jim R – Yes, they don’t seem to worry much about us. If they do, I guess they stay far away, like the night herons.
Their return to a nearby reedy pond bordering our road is the fulfillment of the promise of spring. This reminder is timely in its own way.
Laurna – I was walking in a bird sanctuary area in Phoenix a few years ago and heard a bird call that I then didn’t recognize. A guy walking past stopped dead in his tracks and exclaimed, “A red-winged blackbird!” As he said, once heard, never forgotten. He remembered them from his youth, lying in bed and listening to them.
Just back from Los Cabos, where as soon as a diner rose from the table, a flock of local birds descended on it. Isabel, I think you might have gotten some wonderful pictures of a row or eight or more birds, all sitting on the back of a chair, facing the table, watching for the human to rise and leave. Some that looked like house sparrows, some apparently from the oriole family, no doubt some from the finches… But I didn’t get any pictures to send to Merlin for identification.
The one thing all of them have is blinding speed when they flash through the restaurant area, apparently aiming at a spot about two inches above or to the side of my face.
Jim T
Jim T – Los Cabos, here I come! Well, not likely, but it sure sounds like fun. Except for the part where you worry about getting smacked in the face in a flurry of feathers.
In our part of the world – Southern Alberta -the red winged blackbird rather than the robin is the true harbinger of spring. That reedy whistle brings lightness to our step and joy to our hearts.
Ian – Interesting. We have tons of RWBBs around Ottawa, too, but not in suburban neighbourhoods, only in marshy environments. Down by the river, that sort of thing. So maybe it’s our first spring bird, too, but most of us don’t see it.