Sunday Canoe Trip, Larger Slough Young Yellow-Headed Blackbird

The lily flowers always seem alien to us.

We loved these shots of the Song Sparrow they 

reminded us of wildlife dioramas. They also show
the small liminal landscape that exists at the edge of
the slough under the shadows of the overhanging
willows.

The birds with young are either secretive or carrying out

distraction displays. With the Yellow-Headed Blackbirds it 

was a bit of both. When we paddled over to the reed bed in 

deep in the slough to see what they were up to we saw several

young clinging to the reeds, so we took a couple shots and 

backed up to avoid disturbing them. There are no cabins on the 

slough and it is both shallow and inaccessable which limits most

motor boats and the disruptive wakes they can produce.

“In general the assumption of all of us, child or adult, was that this was a new country and that a new country had no history. History was something that applied to other places.” 


from Wolf willow
Wallace Stegner

Poorer quality shots but it looks like at least three more chicks 
at various stages of development.