ML123798451

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

This image estimated at 2000+ birds, mostly Redwings, based on the above image counted at 530+. Entire population present was estimated to be at least 10-15 times this many.

Observation details

Huge numbers of blackbirds in the bottoms, in corn stubble etc.; Redwings were the large majority with mix of starlings, cowbirds, grackles, Rusties, and a single Yellow-headed. One bird, apparently an aberrant (female?) redwing, was seen with some difficulty as it fed on the ground among a horde of other redwings, with its bill down and its tail up, seemingly the exact size and shape of the others. It had a dark, perhaps blackish, head and breast forming a hood, with cutoff line about mid-breat; below that, the ground color was a rich orangey yellow, but with heavy longitudinal dark streaks like a female redwing; the back was duller, just brownish, but also streaked. It had two orange-toned wingbars. When the bird fed facing away from me with tail up, the undertail was bright yellow (unstreaked) and the ventral side of the tail was mostly white. Overall, it looked like some weird combination of a redwing and an oriole. I soon lost it with no chance for a photo.

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

ISO

80

Focal length

36.5 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/320 sec

Dimensions

2400 pixels x 3000 pixels

Original file size

3.25 MB