Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Day …

Brewer's Blackbird in Song - ©ingridtaylar

I planted myself in the middle of a field for this shot, watching a male and female Brewer’s Blackbird forage around me — for insects, seeds, fruit. Brewer’s Blackbirds will nest in colonies — and at other times of the year, they’ll congregate in large flocks. They’re sometimes killed — mistakenly so — as farm pests. In fact, because they are insectivores, they are actually beneficial residents around crops.

It was a male Brewer’s — Swoops the Blackbird — who earned his civic fame last year in San Francisco by mobbing passersby in the Financial District. Blackbirds are among the bird species that will mob intruders when protecting their nests.

This particular male interrupted his foraging with an occasional fluff-up and that characteristic blackbird call. This image was captured mid-song.