Beatles and Blackbirds
Forty years tucked away, my wife's treasured LP collection finally emerged from storage, sparked by a new turntable gifted at Christmas. Among them, a cherished 1968 double album: The Beatles' "White Album," featuring the timeless "Blackbird." This iconic song, a personal favorite and a musical touchstone, has resonated across generations, inspiring covers from Judy Collins, Neil Diamond, and Billy Preston, to its appearance on "Glee." Most recently, Beyoncé's 2024 rendition on "Cowboy Carter" propelled "Blackbird" to its highest-ever position on the Billboard Hot 100.
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The Red-winged Blackbird:
A stocky, broad-shouldered blackbird with a slender, conical bill and a medium-length tail. Red-winged Blackbirds often show a hump-backed silhouette while perched; males often sit with tail slightly flared.
Male Red-winged Blackbirds are hard to mistake. They're an even glossy black with red-and-yellow shoulder badges. Females are crisply streaked and dark brownish overall, paler on the breast and often show a whitish eyebrow.
Male Red-winged Blackbirds do everything they can to get noticed, sitting on high perches and belting out their conk-la-ree! song all day long. Females stay lower, skulking through vegetation for food and quietly weaving together their remarkable nests. In winter Red-winged Blackbirds gather in huge flocks to eat grains with other blackbird species and starlings.
(Sony a1, 200-600/5.6-6.3 @ 600 mm, 1/3200 @ f/6.3, ISO 320, edited to taste)
Beatles and Blackbirds
Forty years tucked away, my wife's treasured LP collection finally emerged from storage, sparked by a new turntable gifted at Christmas. Among them, a cherished 1968 double album: The Beatles' "White Album," featuring the timeless "Blackbird." This iconic song, a personal favorite and a musical touchstone, has resonated across generations, inspiring covers from Judy Collins, Neil Diamond, and Billy Preston, to its appearance on "Glee." Most recently, Beyoncé's 2024 rendition on "Cowboy Carter" propelled "Blackbird" to its highest-ever position on the Billboard Hot 100.
_________________________
The Red-winged Blackbird:
A stocky, broad-shouldered blackbird with a slender, conical bill and a medium-length tail. Red-winged Blackbirds often show a hump-backed silhouette while perched; males often sit with tail slightly flared.
Male Red-winged Blackbirds are hard to mistake. They're an even glossy black with red-and-yellow shoulder badges. Females are crisply streaked and dark brownish overall, paler on the breast and often show a whitish eyebrow.
Male Red-winged Blackbirds do everything they can to get noticed, sitting on high perches and belting out their conk-la-ree! song all day long. Females stay lower, skulking through vegetation for food and quietly weaving together their remarkable nests. In winter Red-winged Blackbirds gather in huge flocks to eat grains with other blackbird species and starlings.
(Sony a1, 200-600/5.6-6.3 @ 600 mm, 1/3200 @ f/6.3, ISO 320, edited to taste)