Over the weekend my girlfriend showed me the current issue of "Birds and
Blooms," a magazine devoted mostly to gardening (also backyard bird
feeders, etc. -- hence the title). On pp. 14-15 is an article on the
red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus). Although I've seen many of
these critters at a distance -- or sometimes briefly a little closer (maybe
too close) when they were dive-bombing my head(*) -- I'd never had the
chance to study their appearance in detail. This article had a great
close-up photo of a male. His feathers were glossy black, he had prominent,
bright red and yellow(**) shoulder patches; and the insides of his feathers
were a light gray.
That's too close a match for me to accept as mere coincidence. Ed DeRouin
(Nov. 2, 2001) may be right when he says that the term "Blackbird" was not
used on the CB&Q, but was coined instead by the hobby community. Still,
having seen this photo, it's hard for me to believe that whoever conceived
the paint scheme for the Burlington's yard and early road switchers didn't
have that little bird in mind. Blackbirds are common in Midwestern fields
and near water, where they eat seeds and bugs. As such, they must have been
a familiar, colorful sight along the Q's ROW through granger country.
Jonathan
(*) Since blackbirds are aggressive and known to react strongly to color
stimuli, I wonder if there are any reported instances of one attacking a
GP7.
(**) red above, yellow below -- so presumably he was an EMD bird, certainly
not a Baldwin.
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