Tammie Rogers
Inspired by Dogs & Nature
Doin’ a little decorating
This is a Dickcissel. It is a “grassland bunting,” generally speaking, but taxonomists struggle to determine it’s closest relative. All About Birds website sites that it’s currently in the same family as the Northern Cardinal. However, “In the past, it has been placed in the New World sparrow family and also in the oriole and blackbird family.”
I happened upon this pair doing a little decorating (aka building a new nest) and was fortunate to get some good shots as it appeared they were far more interested in the task at hand (claw) than my presence.
Note that while the images may all appear similar, the birds were working in and around a number of weed plants as you can see by examining the vegetation on which the birds are perched. I particularly like the photo with the lace-like dried grass background. The images with what appears to be a blurred frame have not been altered. That’s actually the artifact of shooting with a long lens through obstructions in the foreground; in this case the leaves and grasses in front of the bird. I’m usually not that lucky – and rather the bird ends up a blurry blob behind clear, but uninteresting plants. I got lucky this time.
“Honey, where should we put these pieces?”
“Don’t you think it would go better over there?”
“Babe. I’ve found a bit more that I think would work perfectly…”
Tammie Rogers 