Brewer's Blackbird

Just up the road in Lakewood running along the San Gabriel River on one side and Studebaker on the other (between Del Amo and Carson) is Rynerson Park and the Lakewood Equestrian Center.  Maxine and I went up there for the pony rides, but got distracted by the bunnies.  The Equestrian Center is home to hundreds of semi-feral rabbits living in warrens dug under the outbuildings and in the horse stalls.  Hundreds.  Maybe thousands.  Like, creepy amounts of rabbits.  Some cute little babies, but also some big Watership-Down-looking rabbits.  If you were going to film a horror movie about rabbits, you'd film it at the Lakewood Equestrian Center.

Anyway, in the park we saw this pair of Brewer's Blackbirds. 

There are a few different kinds of birds I consider the "food-court birds."  At pretty much every outdoor food court there will always be some nasty looking blackbirds.  They might be glossy black, or speckled, or dark brown, but they are all medium-sized blackbirds, and they usually have a toe or a foot missing.  sometimes both feet.  They jump up on the tables and root through the trash, eating whatever morsels they can find.  Sometimes they look downright greasy.  The Brewer's Blackbird is one of the food-court birds.  In a real park, eating a healthy natural diet, they are gorgeous. 

Brewer's Blackbirds, taken with the Nikon in Rynerson Park on May 15, 2010.  Identified in the Birds of California Field Guide.