We went for a walk around the neighborhood yesterday afternoon, primarily to check out the new homes under construction. My usual practice is to stick my point-and-shoot camera in my pocket before leaving the house, just in case we encounter something out of the ordinary. I was glad I did.
We’ve had multitudes of red-winged blackbirds roosting around our ponds, and they’ve even been venturing into our yards, which I haven’t seen until this year. So we weren’t surprised at the noisy flocks of those birds around the north pond. What we were surprised to see were two black and bright yellow birds on the ground next to the water. I grabbed my camera, zoomed in as closely as I could, and managed to get two photos before the birds spooked and flew away.
It wasn’t until I googled “yellow chested birds” that I discovered the identity of the pair: yellow-headed blackbirds. I hope they stick around; they’re beautiful birds.
In all my years, and that’s many, I saw my first last fall as it was traveling through FD. I thought it was some form of Mexican Eagle at first but the bright yellow was too distinctive. Didn’t have the camera in my hand so it lives as a memory but congrats on your quick action.
Neil