A first for me...

A Red-winged Blackbird Female. I see the males by the dozens, daily, year after year. But until today, I had never seen a female in person. In fact, had Sefferdog not posted one a few times, I never would have realized that this gal was the mate to her black and red counterpart. They really look nothing alike (other than the beak) and (at least around here) the female is never near the feeder or out in the open. After spotting this rare sight I did spend some time down by the lake in the cat tales and bushes where the rw blackbirds nest and I studied the area thoroughly for a while until I located a rw pair. The female is tremendously hard to spot in that setting... by design I suppose, for that is where they nest.

Maybe this gal hasn't found a mate yet, as she visited the feeder a few times and hung out near by with the grackles of all birds...

We didn't get any sun today, but it was definitely a spring day. The temperature almost reached 60(F) degrees and it sprinkled a few times but you could feel the change in the air. The ice on the lake shifted and split right down the middle. It looks like a skinny river running diagonally through the lake and the ducks are using it as a runway. :) I spent some time cleaning up the garden and wandering with the camera. I love this time of year...