Cropped, sharpened.

A local pond had a swarm on male Redwing Blackbirds in courting mode this morning. Funny....there weren't any females around. They didn't seem to mind except when another male invaded its personal space. Or more irritating to them was when I tried to walk around the pond to get some better shots. They weren't having anything to do with me wrecking the early spring jam session. The courtship tweets turned into "INTRUDER ALERT, WARNING, INTRUDER ALERT!" All at once. "Krick!..Krick! ...Krick! until I got back into my car.

In the vehicle driving slowly and stopping carefully I was able to approach the birds to within 15 feet distant. Close enough. I took 65 pics of which about 15 were keepers.
Great morning session. Oh and when the bird were in "FULL ON! " mode it was hilarious. They puffed up greatly, spread their wings down and back and crooned like a farmyard rooster blowing a gasket. I'll find and post of pic of that, tomorrow.