birdsoup

Its spring and, yes, the blackbirds are back.  Huge flocks of Starlings and Grackles with a smattering of Cowbirds and Red-wings are marauding the neighborhood again.

If you maintain a birdfeeder you dread the return of the blackbirds.  Hoards descend upon your yard en masse, hundreds of them.  They devour all your sunflower seeds draining the feeder dry in minutes.

Here is how I explain this spring phenomena:  The male blackbirds are the first to return from down south.  Females arrive several weeks later.  The males have nothing to do so they act like a bunch of teenage boys.  They hang around on the street corner with the other guys. They get in trouble.  They eat.    

A few weeks later the girls show up and the boy start to think of other things.  The gangs break up.  They pair off.  And the huge flocks are just a distant memory….. at least until next spring.

Hint:  You can banish the male blackbirds from your feeder by filling it safflower seed.  Blacksbirds don’t like.  Other birds do.  For years it was known as the Cardinal seed. So if the blackbirds are annoying you, try using safflower seed in your feeder for a few weeks.