Birds and Nature

A few days ago as I birded in Florence, CO, a little town near Canon City, I was surprised to find 5 male and at least 1 female Bobolink. Though I have seen Bobolink in this hay field previously it has been a number of years. And I was delighted to photograph this female Bobolink as they are not always easy to find. The best though was the very brief video clip of the two male Bobolink singing their bubbly song. SeEtta Bobolinks singing from SeEtta Moss on Vimeo .

In this clip three male Bobolinks are seen displaying and engaging in countersinging while between 2 and 4 additional male Bobolinks are heard singing as they are perched nearby. The Bobolink in the center has it's back to the camera providing a good view of it as it alternates aggressive posturing with grooming actions. SeEtta

I found several male Bobolinks engaged in countersinging in the middle of some farm fields for which I had permission to enter so I was able to get about 80 feet from them for this video. I was able to get 3 Bobolinks in the lens view as they were close together as they engaged in the aggressive territorial auditory and behavioral display. They sand for more than 5 minutes with a few collective pauses as they fluffed up their feathers and engaged in various aggressive poses. Though only 3 Bobolinks are seen at one time the voices heard on the video are of a total of 9 Bobolink that sang in this location, all within 40 feet of each other so they came through nicely. Occasionally a Western Meadowlark, also perched nearby, is heard singing.  At the end of the video I pan over to a 4th Bobolink that has it's back to us showing it's gorgeous golden-yellow and white feathering like the two in this pic. This is the largest group of Bobolinks I have ever seen in one location...