I've started doing some breeding bird surveys on the ranch. It's always fun to see what's out there. I heard and saw quite a few red-winged blackbirds. They like to get together in big flocks at times and create quite a racket.
Even noisier are the yellow-headed blackbirds. They love to hang out on the bulrushes, make their noisy calls, and then chase each other around.
The female yellow-headed blackbird has some color to her but is not nearly as showy as the male.
This rock dove (pigeon) was on the road and didn't seem to mind my presence. When I took a closer look at the photo, I noticed it had bands around both of his feet. Who is studying rock doves and why?
In some willows next to a small pond on the ranch I saw a flash of yellow and discovered a pair of yellow warblers hanging out. They are small but colorful.I'm usually surprised by all the diversity on the ranch--at first sight it might seem like there's just cows, horses, and ravens, but with a little more looking, it ends up quite interesting.
3 comments:
I'm amazed at what you have up there on the ranch. It's just mindboggaling. I'm glad you know how to reconized and share with Desert Boy and the whole world the beauty around you.
I saw a red-winged blackbird this weekend and didn't know what it was. Thanks for the ID!!
I've learned that the rock dove (pigeon) with bands is probably a racing pigeon. There is a whole website about this activity: http://www.pigeon.org/index.html
Apparently there was a race near here in January--has the pigeon been lost for that long?
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