Yellow-headed Blackbirds Displaying
Recently we spent a few days touring some of our local birding hotspots with Jim and Nancy DeWitt, friends from Alaska who were visiting our area. One of Jim’s goals was to see and photograph Yellow-headed Blackbirds, a species not found in Alaska. We felt sure we could find some for him but sadly we failed, even though we had seen them recently. Apparently they have skedaddled south for warmer climes. But the experience made me realize that I’ve neglected the species in my posts so I decided to rectify the situation. Males are real acrobats in their springtime territorial displays and they have two types of “song spreads” when they’re singing – each accompanied by a distinct song type. Both of these photos are of a male displaying one of those two spreads – the Symmetrical Song Spread. I prefer to photograph these birds doing this spread because during the Asymmetrical Song Spread they arch their necks sharply to the left (yes, always to the left and never the right) which exposes the neck skin and often makes for a decidedly unattractive photo. 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light During the Symmetrical Song Spread, the bird spreads its wings to reveal the white patches and the tail is splayed out and lowered. If you can get the right light and exposure on the bird, this posture will often give you an interesting and rather dramatic image. The Symmetrical Song Spread is most often displayed when competing males fly over their territory. 1/100, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc,…