June 26th, 2018

A farm mystery solved!

Since last May we have been hearing a song- we didn't know if it was a bird song or a frog song- down in the marshy area past the sheep pasture. It went Ba-Bo and then would pause and then another Ba-Bo. It seemed to be just one voice, but we didn't make much of that at first. It was a call Els didn't know (I'll admit, I can only identify a handful of bird songs, but I'm working on that). Els' parents are enthusiastic birders, and so we asked who this might be, and they didn't know either. After moving the sheep this week to fresh pasture (we do this every few days) we laid down in the grass enjoy a short break while the sheep munched all around us. Ba-Bo has been a steady backdrop to any time we spend out behind the barn, and so it was that afternoon. But, as we laid looking up at the clouds we saw a Red-winged Blackbird sitting on the telephone wire who appeared to be singing Ba-Bo! This is not their normal call, "purple queeeee", but I guess certain birds can find their own voice. As we looked closer, we could see it steadily saying "ba-bo queeee". ​

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