Yellow-headed Blackbird

If you're ever in a freshwater marshy area, and you hear something that sounds like a rusty gate being opened, don't be surprised when you find out the noise is coming from a Yellow-headed Blackbird, not a gate! The Yellow-headed Blackbird is one of my favorite wetland birds, they're entertaining to watch, beautiful birds and where you find one there's most likely a whole bunch more close by.



*Catching Mayflies, pretty entertaining*

Yellow-headed Blackbirds nest in large colonies that can include hundreds of individuals and sometimes even other species of Blackbirds. The males are easily recognized with their bright yellow heads, black bodies and white strips on their wings. Females lack the white strips and overall have a duller color with yellow on their faces, neck and chest (the whole head is not completely yellow). As previously mentioned their call has been compared to the noise a rusty gate makes when opened. I'm not a huge fan of that comparison, but their call in definitely unique, and one that is easily recognized.

The Yellow-headed Blackbird's diet consists of mainly seeds and insects, the largest portion being seeds. In the United States, this bird can be found in marshy areas in most of the west and central parts of the country. During the nesting season, male birds can often be seen displaying their colors and heard voicing their call repeatedly around the colony. This is their way of saying "back off" as they guard their nest(s) and female(s). Bird watching is one of my favorite activities, and Yellow-headed Blackbirds are one of my favorites to observe. Keep an eye out next time you're by a lake or pond or marshy area, you may just run into some!

A Week's Worth of Critters

Every week I go through and transfer the images stored on my camera's memory card to another storage device. Some weeks this consists of maybe 100 pictures or so, and other weeks this can range into the thousands. No matter the number, I always enjoy going back through the pictures to look at the places that specific week took me, and the different animals I was able to find. I'll usually pull out my favorite pictures and store them separately for easier future access. This past week I ran into a good variety of critters, including but not limited to; Ring-necked Pheasant, Killdeer, Yellow-bellied Marmot, Mourning Dove, Sandhill Crane, Canada Goose, Mallard Duck, Wood Duck, Painted Turtle, Striped Skunk, California Quail, Wild Turkey, Mule Deer, Moose, Red-naped Sapsucker, Ground Squirrel, Bullfrog, Elk and Snowy Egret. These were simply the species of animals I was able to get pictures of, the list would be about 3x longer or more if I were to list every animal I saw and could identify. There are so many beautiful creatures around us, we just need to be more aware of what's there which will allow us to better respect, protect and appreciate these wonderful creatures that we share this world with.

Snowy peaks and a frozen lake

This weekend I made it out camping again. This time I hiked to a beautiful alpine lake overlooked by mountain peaks. With all the warm weather we have had lately I expected the lake to be thawed and the mountains nearly clear of the winter snow. As I arrived at the lake I came upon a beautiful site. The water still mostly frozen over with spots of clear, blue/green water showing through near the shore, and above, snowy peaks. It's vistas like this that remind me why I love to be out in nature so much. Unfortunately I didn't run into much wildlife, a family of coyotes did serenade me with a beautiful chorus of howls and playful yelps, it was quite entertaining even though I couldn't find them. The night was pleasantly chilly, but there is little I enjoy more than crawling into a warm sleeping bag with the cold air and mysterious noises all around me. As I made my way up the mountain the next morning, I came across multiple small mountain streams and springs. Running low on water I refilled my supply, there is nothing quite like clear, mountain spring water to re-energize the body! It was quite a fun outing, I will definitely be making my way back there later this year. I was hoping to find and photograph some moose, but didn't have any luck with that this outing, maybe next time.