March 9, 2024

3/9/2024
6:11am-7:45am
wooded clearing outside Victor NY
38 degrees F, light wind, lightly drizzling morning rain

I was camping in a small clearing near the train tracks and heard the black birds long before I even got out of my sleeping bag. There was a reedy clearing stretching out away from the train tracks where most of the birds seemed to be congregating.

the male red winged blackbirds were calling out with their very distinct kyaaaa calls, as they perched on reeds or tree branches, hopping around a little bit. I think this is kind of the equivalent of "THIS IS MY REED, ISNT IT A NICE REED. MINE MY OWN" to sort of mark their territory to the other males in the areas. now in comparison, there was several flocks of I believe snow or canada geese flying over head, and one would diverge alittle from the group, honking and the others would follow them in that direction, so while the blackbirds use their early morning calls as a territorial thing, the geese were using it to stay on track and in formation.

There were two cardinals I was watching very closely, one male one female, and the male would find a high perch, on one of the trees and make the wheet wheet wheet wheet calls, presenting itself to the females in the area, then the female chased after it. the much subtler female coloring was more difficult to see as the males will be the ones to attract a mate, and the females do not need to draw the same kind of attention, them to be less visible while caring for their nests.

Publicerat 9 mars 2024 23.22 av