Keeping Common Birds Common

The sun shining from behind a male Red-winged Blackbird reveals his condensing breath as he gives his loud, ringing song on a cold morning in early spring. Surrounding the displaying male in this photograph are bright, out-of-focus spheres caused by light reflecting off of fragments of debris floating on the water in the background.

In spring, female Redwings can be seen building their nests in the cattails edging the arboretum’s ponds.