I’ve always loved to hear the call of the Red-winged Blackbird, described in the National Audobon Society Master Guide to Birding as conk-ka-ree or ok-a-lee (no “Okily-dokily!” Ned Flanders jokes, please!). I went for years without enjoying the sight and sound of these handsome birds, partly because of local habitat loss and partly because I wasn’t spending time in the right sort of environment. I worried that perhaps they were dying out, but a few trips to Sailor Bar County Park in Fair Oaks last summer relieved my mind on that score. I’ve also spotted them near the vernal pools at Phoenix Park and, further afield, in the marshes surrounding Clear Lake in Lake County.

A puffed-up male at Clear Lake, May 2019