Red winged blackbirds...

My bird feeders were busy busy busy this afternoon. I had unexpected guests. Unless my eyes were deceiving me, I had male and female Red-winged Blackbirds chowing on suet... and not surprisingly, I think a couple of Grackles and Blue Jays, too. I think the Jays liked the safflower seed as well.

To my knowledge - I have never seen RW Blackbirds there.

At least they took breaks, allowing the "regulars" to get some seed....

White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatches ( a fave of mine - so cute)
Tufted Titmice
Mr and Mrs. Downy Woodpecker (also a fave!)
House Finches
Gold Finches
House Sparrows
Mourning Doves
M/F Cardinals
Blackcapped Chickadees

At least - these are the ones I recognize. Perhaps there are others. I know, I know - PICTURES! I have a couple of the male Downy and a Chickadee hanging off the large suet box sitting on the memory card of my camera.

That's really neat!! Since moving to our house - with a YARD! - BF and I have been wanting to get a bird feeder or 2. We got a hummingbird feeder right away, one that sticks to the kitchen window with a suction cup. There are lots of hummingbirds around, several types, and they hang around quite a bit and drink the nectar from the feeder and some flowers.

We haven't decided on what type of 'regular' bird feeder to get yet, so in the meantime we bought one of those bird seed bells and hung it on the apple tree. Enough got eaten that it broke and fell this weekend so we stuck the pieces in between some braches. I see mostly sparrows and house finches, the occasional goldfinch and some birds with a white chest and either black or dark grey feathers on the rest of them. Once there were about 10 crows on the wire going across the back of the yard, and also what I think might've been a red tailed hawk. Maybe not, but it was some brownish bird of prey. They didn't come in the yard, but I think they scared off the other smaller birds. Sigh.

I need to get a book of birds to learn who they all are!!

We used to have a lot of yellow finches. Speedboat reaked havoc on the population. We now have bluebirds, lots of them.

I usually get a lot of sparrows, house finches and chickadees (when I remember to fill the feeder...) Our cats are indoor boys so they love watching them out the window of our sunroom. The past few days though, all I've seen are a few HUGE flocks of starlings. Don't know what their migration pattern is but they come through around this time every year. A decent flock will cover an entire front lawn on my street...

Our "usuals" list is the same - only we don't put out suet, so the morning doves feed off the ground. I'm really glad we don't have grackles or Red-winged blackbirds. They're both VERY aggressive birds. I was attacked by red-winged blackbirds several times as a kid just riding my bike - happened to be through territory they were defending I guess (a suburban street!).

I DID see some Eastern Bluebirds the other day (not at the feeder). That was a real treat - it's been a few years since I've seen any around here. (The house sparrows were imported from Europe in the 1800s, and they are also a very aggressive species. Eastern Bluebirds only nest in already-existing homes - thus a good idea to put up lots of nesting boxes if you want to attract them - but the House Sparrows often crowd them out, one of the major reasons the Bluebirds have been in decline).

There also seem to be a lot of yellow flickers this year.


Anyway... we can't put out suet, it attracts the bears.

My mom used to carry a broom with her out to the mailbox because we had RW blackbirds that would attack! Lol!

(She never actually hit them--she just used it to scare them.)

I have redwings here, but it always seems to be exactly 2 pair. Never more, never less.

I think they're keeping their good spots a secret.

Yeah, RW Blackbirds are VERY aggressive about defending their territory. I have been divebombed; so has my boyfriend when he walks down by Lake St. Clair ( Detroit area).

I have also been divebombed by swallows! They used to nest above my parking spot in the carport at my old apt. !!!! EEeeeep!!!

Haven't seen any bluebirds to my knowledge. We have tons and tons of house sparrows around here. And house finches -also not native to this continent. Nor are the starlings ... they are obnoxious, IMO.

ETA: I scared a Tufted Titmouse today who had zoomed in to feed on the large seed block I put up yesterday. He didn't realize I was standing very close by and flew up higher in the tree in a panic. However, my presence didn't really phase the chickadee that was close on his tail .... they are bold and hardy little birds!!

Your list is pretty much the same as mine. I think we live in the same latitude or is it longitude?

Those tufted tit mice...I whistle back to them when I am outside, and I can hear their replies get closer and closer! Once one came right up to the porch where I was sitting after "talking" to me for a bit.

We also have grey squirrls, red squirrls, and tons of chipmunks.

I think the feeders are going to get busier now, since fall and the dreaded winter are looming!

How odd, I've never heard of red wings being aggressive like that. Here our red wings stay more to less populated areas, usually around a pond, lake, river/creek, or in the fields. I don't believe I've ever seen one or heard of anyone around here getting them up at feeders - though sometimes orioles can be lured up with fruit and suet. Grackles here pretty much just beat up each other and ignore other birds and people, unless it's at a fast food place and then they'll beg for food.

Aggressive birds in this area are blue jays, cowbirds, starlings, kingbirds, mocking birds, and surprisingly hummingbirds when they want to be. Only the first three really bother seed/suet feeders, with the rest preferring to forage (except the hummingbirds).