Spring has arrived at the farm. Don't tell me that spring is a couple weeks away because when the red-winged blackbird arrives, it's spring.
Dozens arrived on Monday (3/1), a week earlier than I predicted and they were active in a couple of cottonwood trees on the north side of the road. As I approached to get a better picture, they scattered to the soft maples along the creek that runs through the neighbor's field. Usually I can walk within 10 yards of a red-winged but they may be jittery this early in the spring. I waited behind the cover of a row of cedar trees for them to return to the cottonwoods.
When they came back, I was able to get that one picture above and then I left them alone but watched from the truck. With the ground still nearly covered in a foot of snow, there was little open ground but under the cottonwoods was a mound of corn that must have spilled when the neighbor harvested his field last fall. The snow melted to reveal the corn that was almost directly underneath those cottonwoods.
The flock at the cottonwoods, both males and females, about half stayed perched in the trees while the others fed on the pile of corn. Maybe a half a minute later the birds on the ground flew up into the trees, their "chip" calls among themselves for a few seconds until the group that was perched took their turn to feed.
I watched for at least 10 minutes as they switched from sentinels to voracious eaters until they decided to move on. Some may stay here at the farm while others fly to greener pastures. Maybe the chicks born at the farm last year will return to weave their nests for their own brood.
The first day of our spring started out on a high note but went down from there. More later on that. In the mean time, I'll remember the behavior of our friends on that day.
