This photo was taken yesterday evening, around 6:00 pm, when a group of us (13?) got together at Frank Lake for a celebration of spring. Great company and great picnic food. Even a few birds to photograph, including this male Red-winged Blackbird who doesn't look at all pleased at having the camera pointed at him. Sunshine, too, until it was time to go home, when the heavens opened and down came the rain, accompanied by streaks of lightning. Thanks, Brenda, for organizing this event that went so smoothly and was most enjoyable!

"One of the most abundant birds across North America, and one of the most boldly colored, the Red-winged Blackbird is a familiar sight atop cattails, along soggy roadsides, and on telephone wires. Glossy-black males have scarlet-and-yellow shoulder patches they can puff up or hide depending on how confident they feel. Females are a subdued, streaky brown, almost like a large, dark sparrow. In the North, their early arrival and tumbling song are happy indications of the return of spring." From Cornell's AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/red-winged_blackbird/id?utm_s...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-winged_blackbird

A very early start to the day today, 28 May 2017, as it's the second day of the annual May Species Count. My small group will be spending all day SW of the city, searching and hoping for some good sightings.