Brewer's Blackbirds at the Tar Pits

I took the nieces to the Page Museum La Brea Tar Pits last week and the atrium was full of nesting Brewer's Blackbirds.  There was even a sign on the atrium door warning that birds were nesting and could be aggressive.  The sign didn't identify the birds, though, which I think is unfortunate.  It's a natural history museum devoted to identifying the animal remains they find in the tar.  You'd think they would want to continue that identification vein to the living animals taking up residence in the museum.

I've posted about them before, when I saw them in Rynerson Park, but I didn't have any pictures of baby blackbirds yet.  And I thought these pictures turned out pretty good.  There were few adult males to be seen down below in the atrium (they were all out on top) but no shortage of females tending to their babies. 

Female and baby Brewer's Blackbirds, at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, June 10, 2010.  At first I mistook them for Grackles.  I looked up Grackles and Brewer's Blackbirds online (Google image search, Wikipedia and Cornell), and was reminded Grackles are quite a bit bigger with much larger tails.