Red-winged Blackbird 2/1/10
That flash of scarlet epaulettes and lusty konk-la-reeee! which declares his arrival, male Red-winged Blackbirds are always just over the horizon of winter in New England. A couple of mild days in a row is all it takes to bring them out of nowhere, impatient to get on with the business of spring. I found these two males on one of our warmer days a week or so ago at Salisbury Beach State Reservation where I’d gone down for a second shoot of the Sage Thrasher, but I’ve also been seeing them showing up in other locales nearby on the bird lists, only to disappear again once winter reclaims the air.
