Last week my brother, his girlfriend, and I went hiking in three different wetland areas, and the red winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) were everywhere. Most of the females were busy sitting on nests, but one would occasionally pop up out of the brush for a few minutes before going back to their motherly duties. The males, on the other hand, were very busy protecting territories from all comers including hikers who got too close to their nests (this did not happen to any of us). Most of the territorial behavior consisted of males chasing one another and males perching, usually on a taller piece of vegetation, and singing. Most of the time that we were out the air was filled with the distinctive calls and songs of these birds. As the day wound down and dusk was rapidly approaching, I was out on Payne’s Prairie. The prairie was filled with these guys, almost all of them singing their little hearts out. This bird was fairly close to the trail when I made a stop to change camera lenses. As I sat on the ground photographing a caterpillar, he kept a close eye on me, and sang almost continuously. I thought after that serenade, he deserved to have his picture taken, so that’s what I did after putting the long lens back on the camera.