Brewer's Blackbird with food for his babies

Photographed this male Brewer's Blackbird a few days ago, on 27 June 2014, when I drove a few of the backroads SW of the city. This is such a busy time for birds, collecting insects to feed to their young.

"A bird to be seen in the full sun, the male Brewer’s Blackbird is a glossy, almost liquid combination of black, midnight blue, and metallic green. Females are a staid brown, without the male’s bright eye or the female Red-winged Blackbird’s streaks. Common in towns and open habitats of much of the West, you’ll see these long-legged, ground-foraging birds on sidewalks and city parks as well as chuckling in flocks atop shrubs, trees, and reeds."

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/brewers_blackbird/id

The famous, annual Calgary Stampede begins tomorrow, with the Stampede Parade taking place in the morning. William Shatner (from Star Trek) is our Parade Marshall. No worries about the weather, as it's a beautiful, sunny day today and tomorrow is supposed to be good, too.