27 March 2016. Cootes Paradise, Hamilton ON. There are days in the field when I expect to see the usuals yet still hope that maybe something odd will show up. At this stage in the unfolding of spring, not much odd shows up, it’s all pretty much old favourites. Today, bright, sunny and passably warm, seemed like a good opportunity to walk some familiar trails and get reacquainted with some familiar birds; which is exactly how it worked out.
I was stopped in my tracks by a Carolina Wren who scolded me for coming too close to what I suspect will be a nest site in the tangles of man-made debris and discards around a boat house. For a while I stopped to watch a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers and a handful of Black-capped Chickadees finishing off a pile of sunflower seeds.(Click on any picture to enlarge.)
It was all very nice, good to be outdoors, and to be comparing this bright, northern hemisphere, winter-in-retreat March day with my birding experiences in Uganda just a month ago. And it was as I sifted through those memories that I was struck by the similarities between the territorial displays of this Bird-of-the-day Red-winged Blackbird and a Ugandan Fan-tailed Widowbird.
