This year, as never before, there are a remarkable number of Brewer's Blackbirds in and around 100 Mile House. In most years, during fall, it is traditional to see flocks of Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds gathering around 100 Mile Marsh and area bird-feeders. With flashing red epaulettes and highly visible bright yellow heads glinting in the sun, these noisy flocks cackle and bellow in the treetops. The Brewer's Blackbird however is low-key. It lacks the gaudy accoutrements of plumage of its relatives, and its calls and numbers make it generally the least noticeable of the Blackbird clan.

However, this year must be the year of the Brewer's Blackbird. Suddenly, they are everywhere! They are passing overhead. They are on parking lots and streets. They are marching across stretches of blacktop with heads bobbing like chickens, and they are striding across lawns searching for grasshoppers and other insects.

The males are striking with metallic green bodies, purple heads and golden eyes with miniscule black pupils. The females sport a duller plumage of brown. However, calling the females plummage brown does not do it justice. There is a milky-ness to the dun colour spreading downwards from the head in subtle gradations. As each female Brewer's Blackbird walks by, I imagine trying to capture the effect of her plumage in watercolour, and failing badly. With all the female Brewer's I've watched at close range lately, I've also noticed a glint of metallic green on the wing area.

I am not implying that Brewer's Blackbirds are uncommon in 100 Mile House. From spring to fall, the sleek and rather silent Blackbirds are certainly present. Their numbers are just sometimes low enough that I might suggest a birder would need to go up Exeter road near the ranch office if they want to see one.

I know of several other spots along certain roads where the birds make annual nests. One such place is near a little bridge on Buffalo Creek. I've driven by the Blackbirds many times, but it was only last year that I stopped and looked for the nest. Guided by the adult birds' constant scolding I deduced that the nest must be in a patch of roadside rose thickets. So I wandered into the shrubbery and carefully pulled back a few limbs, until I could peer into a nest full of fledgling Brewer's Blackbirds. I took a few pictures and then quickly left the area.

However, our locally raised Brewer's Blackbirds can not possibly account for the great flocks now found all over town. These birds must be coming in from other areas. Did a large population explosion mean that all areas have hundreds of Brewer's Blackbirds? Or is it finally 100 Mile House's turn to host the annual Brewer's Blackbird convention? Like most irruptions (a sudden increase in a species' population) we will likely never know what caused this one.