Assuredly one of the biggest flocking of birds to the yard — a sure sign of Spring — is the return of the red-winged blackbirds. Bold and noisy, sitting atop tree tops in bundles, flying through the sky in flocks, they seem determined to disrupt the harmonious and serene scenes of the ducks and geese floating quietly on the pond and resting peacefully on the banks.
When we had cattails in the pond, the blackbirds congregated to the leafy stalks and would build their nests in them. If I walked too close to the nesting sites, the alarm bell would go off, and the squawking of parents defending their territory was extreme!
Even though we don’t have cattails in or around the pond anymore, the blackbirds still return to the yard every year. **I must say, cattails are lovely and pretty, but they are incredibly invasive and will eventually choke out a pond and create an unbalanced ecosystem. So…they had to go.
Anyway, with or without the cattails, the red-winged blackbirds still create beautiful scenes against the sky. I love how they always fly together, creating masses of color if one is quick enough to catch the sight. A couple of days ago, we had a little snow shower — not uncommon this time of year — and the blackbirds, with a backdrop of budding trees and snow flakes donned their colorful wings while in flight.
I was able to catch them while grouped together, nibbling on cracked corn and then taking to the sky to rest within the branches of a budding willow tree and slow to bud honey locust.
#redwingedblackbirds #flockingbirds #nature #birds
A Gardener's Diary 