Birds All March on the Battlefield 8

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8…8 photos of Red-winged Blackbirds, and 8 posts in the month of March. (said in the voice of the Count from Sesame Street). Whew...made it!

The Red-winged Blackbird (RwBb) can be seen all over the GNMP Battlefield.

Most any day I go through the Battlefield, I encounter this type of bird. If they are being vocal, you will surely hear them long before you see them. The call is a very high-pitched o-ka-leeee (at least that’s how the Field Guide describes it). Also, according to the Field Guide, after the breeding season, the RwBbs will gether in flocks as large as hundreds of thousands, if not millions.

The RwBb is regularly found perched on trees; however, it is just as easy to find them sitting on the many fence posts and rails that are throughout the Battlefield.

Red-winged Blackbird on one of the many
cannon wheels.

In this photo, the RwBb is actually perched on a wheel of one of the many cannons that adorn the Battlefield.

These birds are less skittish than most of the smaller perching birds, which does allow you to get a little bit closer to them and to photograph them for a little bit longer, in the same spot.

One of the things that I try to do with the photos of the birds on the Battlefield, is to somehow get a recognizable image, from the Battlefield, in the frame. This adds a little extra shape to the shot, but also adds a level of recognizability (I realize this is not a word) to the shot. When shooting birds on the Battlefield, it’s nice to see things that represent the Battlefield.

Red-winged Blackbird with the
Pennsylvania Memorial

In these two photos, you can see the Pennsylvania Memorial in the background. It’s quite an impressive monument to see (the largest on the Battlefield), and if you ever decide to visit Gettysburg I would strongly recommend that you see it.

You can actually climb to the upper level of the monument, just below the base of the rotunda. Statues are on the corners of the arches; they are of Pennsylvania Generals George Meade, John Reynolds, Winfield Scott Hancock, David Birney, Alfred Pleasonton and David Gregg, Governor Andrew Curtin, and President Lincoln.

To the left of the RwBb in this photo (camera right), you can see the 7^th New Jersey Infantry monument, which is a huge replica of the Minié bullet, or Minié ball.

Red-winged Blackbird with the
7th New Jersey Infantry Monument

Unlike the typical round shot that was used in the Civil War, the Minié bullet was tapered at the tip and hollowed out in the bottom. When the bullet was packed down into the muzzle, it would be filled with gun powder. Once the powder was ignited, the pressure would spread out the back end of the bullet, which allowed the now wider tail to catch the grooves (riffling) in the barrel, causing the bullet to spin; increasing distance and accuracy.

The Red-winged Blackbird is the eighth post in the Birds All March on the Battlefield series. I hope to bring you many, many, more photos of different birds that call the Gettysburg National Military Park Battlefield thier home.

Enjoy