Prairie Pothole blackbirds

A warm pulse after a cold week and I drove out to the pothole country before sunrise. The Red-winged Blackbirds have been back for about a week, which seems early but the science says it’s in the right range for a warm year. By 7:30 AM the males were everywhere, holding their cattail perches and conk-a-ree-ing at nothing in particular.

The Red-wings were the main story. A single Yellow-headed Blackbird showed up at one pothole, which was a good find for the day. Common Grackles on power lines. A Northern Harrier was already on territory and pushed one of the blackbird flocks up twice.

Ducks still around: Mallards, a pair of Northern Pintails, three Blue-winged Teal (early), a handful of Lesser Scaup that might be part of a migrating group. A single Tundra Swan I think was late heading through.

The sound in a thawing prairie pothole is really something. Frogs hadn’t started but ice was cracking in the bigger potholes every few minutes with a groan like a chair shifting.

On the drive back, two Rough-legged Hawks on power poles, a Snowy Owl on a field edge far off, and one coyote moving through stubble. I was not supposed to get the Snowy to round the day out but I’ll take it.