Early Visitors

With all of the snow, the birds have been hot and heavy at the feeders. I have an occasional red-winged blackbird visit the feeders, but we're talking once or twice a winter, not on a regular basis, probably because there is usually plenty of natural food available. Yesterday, I  had dozens of them because the natural food was covered in a foot of snow and it was darned cold. 

This morning I got up and had at least 200 red-winged blackbirds converged on the area where I ground feed. Mingled in among them were two yellow-headed blackbirds. I caught a quick picture with my cell phone through the blinds (and a dirty window). If you look between the slats on the deck, right in the center, you can see two yellow heads. I didn't see any females, but there were so many blackbirds for such a short period of time, I didn't have the chance to look for them. We have a pair of Cooper's hawks in the neighborhood, so the birds are constantly startling.

Usually, I don't see yellow-headed blackbirds until around April. I couldn't recall ever seeing any this early in the year, so I checked eBird. According to eBird, there is not a record of one in Wichita County before 15 March. Good thing I got a photo, poor quality though it might be.

Just goes to show, birds don't read the field guides. Keep an eye on your feeders for unusual birds. You never know what you might see.

Good birding!