Early birds

We were surprised, when we parked at Centennial Beach a few days ago, to find the cottonwood trees around the duck pond full of redwing blackbirds, all in full cry. We've seen them at Reifel Island in mid-winter, where they are well fed, but they don't usually appear in the Boundary Bay area until late March. The males show up first, then, in April, the females can be seen nesting in the reeds.

But now, not only are they early, but there are females with them.

We got only a few photos, all against the light, before we moved on; we were too cold to stand around. And we couldn't even see the ones in the cottonwoods, where most of the song was coming from.

Female in a small willow tree.

At least two adult males, one young male (on the right), and a female.

I hope the warm weather (for mid-winter, that is) holds, if they're going to start nesting soon.