I almost never see Brewer’s Blackbird images posted anywhere so today I thought I’d give the species its due.
1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D, CanonEF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
I found this female Brewer’s Blackbird at sunup this morning on the causeway to Antelope Island. Her mate was perched on a post just a few feet away. The two of them were performing what’s called the “Song-spread Display” for each other. This frequent and conspicuous display is part of the preliminary stages of pair formation and it’s performed by both sexes. The male also performs the display to guard the female from being approached by other males. At the time I took this photo there were three other males showing intense interest in the female.
This image and trip to the island were part of my therapy this morning. I needed it. As I’m sure many of you know my blog was down for about 20 hours beginning yesterday afternoon. It seems our server had a firmware malfunction. Problems like this were a common occurrence when we were using Network Solutions (now there’s a misnomer of a name!) but since we’ve been using Bluehost issues like this have been much reduced. But this one was a doozy – 20 hours! Geez…
So when I got up this morning and my blog and one of my email accounts still weren’t working I just had to get away for some bird photography and focus my mind (and my lens) on different things. Thankfully the issue was resolved while I was out there so as soon as I got home I quickly grabbed this image from today’s shots for your perusal.
My apologies for the blog hiccup!
Ron
She is quite magnificent in her brown on brown beauty…you have a knack for making n me aware of the innate beauty of easily overlooked species…thank you for that!
Love Brewers and the shiny yellow eyes of the males. Thanks for sharing this beautiful female and sorry to hear about the technology headaches. Your posts are part of my healthy, delicious breakfasts every morning 🙂
We noticed! I tried a bunch of times to pull up the site but no go. Fortunately, the internet, and life, are full of fascinating things to look at and I figured you would get the problem solved before too long. So much more frustrating for you, I think, than for us. Thanks for the therapy bird – I love to see this kind of attention paid to a bird that’s common and generally ignored. She is lovely, and so is your photo.
How perfectly lovely! I believe it’s one of my favorites of all your photos…goes right to the heart. Thanks so much.
gorgeous golden glow to this little sweetie … as always, beautifully done!!
Coincidentally, I too have been watching and photographing Red-wings, though not with anything like your style! Males were posing at each other, standing on the ground with bills raised, then perching on cattail stems in mirror-image poses – looking for all the world like a feuding couple!
Wonderful shot! I certainly enjoyed your therapy I hope it worked for you. Electronic problems are extremely frustrating.
Charlotte
I was worried when I didn’t see your morning post. Glad everything is back to normal. And what a beautiful bird. I’ve enver seen one before. She is a beauty in your perfect capture as always.
I really like the overall color scheme of the Brewer shot. The colors of the perch, bird and bg mesh so well.
Early morning photography session – a reliable and effective tranquilizer.
We have regular outages of our phone/internet/tv service because of all the thunderstorms along the gulf coast – but they usually do not last 20 hours. That’s long enough for serious withdrawal symptoms.
Thanks, Dave. Yes, it was a relaxing morning with the birds. There were lots of them, too. Finally!
I know where you are coming from, frustrating to say the least!!
Great shot, I expect you got the male as well. Can’t wait to see him displaying!
We are just seeing 3.25 inches of snow melt away after 1.75 inches of rain fell – man winter is dieing hard. However, most of the Snowys have moved north, so my best bet are the ducks and shorebirds on the intermittent ponds,lakes and flooded fields that pop up from all this rain.
Dick, Nope – no shots of the male. His perch was unattractive so I concentrated on the female. You sound WET!
Ron. I didn’t know females (birds that is) displayed. How great is that?! Thanks. Sorry about your computer angst.
Female Brewer’s can be pretty relentless in their displays sometimes, Diana. They don’t show the flashy iridescence of the male but it’s fun to see.
Apologies are definitely not necessary for something which was beyond your control. I am very glad to see you back – and had a double dose of joy this morning. Thank you.
Thank you, Elephant’s Child. It’s nice to know that you noticed my absence…