February 22, 2011

This morning, shortly after dawn, a significant number (35 or or so)
red-winged blackbirds gathered around our feeders here on Flint Ridge. All
were males except one female/juvenile type, which I took to be a juvenile
male, with a suggestion of epaulets starting to show. Our principal seed is
black oil sunflower. It was amusing to see the blackbirds trying to perch on
the finch tubes. They were all around or under the set of tubes by the
well-house (actually a sunken, covered pit enclosure, kind of a well-well.)
The other feeder station (with sunflower, nyger, and suet offerings) had the
usual assortment of other species: cardinals, house finches, goldfinches,
juncos, tree, song and house sparrows, downy, hairy and red-bellied
woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice and such, with nary a
blackbird, in spite of being only 40 feet or so from the other station. It
was interesting to see the difference between the two not-widely-distant
stations.

Later, after the morning farm chores, I looked out at the feeder station by
the well, and there were only two blackbirds. On the ground with them was a
reddish fox sparrow. All winter we have had occasional visits from a very
dark fox sparrow, a rather more purplish individual, but I reckon this as a
new arrival.

The storm last evening deposited an inch or so of granular mixed forms of
snow, ice and freezing rain, rendering the feeders an attractive option once
more. Feeder birds were much scarcer during the recent thaw, but they are
back in force today.

Bob Evans
Geologist, etc.
Hopewell Township, Muskingum County

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