Date: 4/30/26 4:53 pm From: Dennis Paulson via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Unusual Backyard Migrant: Red-Winged Blackbird
Ann, that’s one I can’t answer other than to say that birds have wings and can turn up anywhere. I think most Red-winged Blackbirds would be in open country if not breeding, but they wander. We have had one or two fly over our house in a wooded neighborhood in Seattle, but I’ve never seen one otherwise anywhere nearer than Lake Washington. They emphatically wouldn’t occur with tanagers, grosbeaks and most warblers!
So yeah, it’s unusual, and it seems unlikely he would commute daily between a wetland and your yard at that distance. Is he coming to a feeder? If a good enough source of food, that might attract him, and blackbirds can fly some distance between food and night-time roosts, although I don’t know if they would fly that far on a daily basis. And they really are flocking birds during the off season, so being by himself is definitely unusual.
But I presume if he made it there from a marsh where he was hatched, presumably he can fly far enough to find another one. But his presence only during sunny weather is beyond me to try to explain!
Dennis
> On Apr 30, 2026, at 3:25 PM, Ann Kramer <lens4birds...> wrote:
>
> Thank you for the clarification, Dennis, between a juvenile and one year old.
>
> To be more clear on my question, is it common for a marsh bird to wander into a sub rural community during migration and is it likely to find its way to a more suitable habitat eventually on his own?
>
> On Thu, Apr 30, 2026 at 9:12 AM Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson...> <mailto:<dennispaulson...>> wrote:
>> Ann, I think it’s too early for juveniles (birds hatched this year), so maybe it’s a one-year-old male. Many but perhaps not all of them breed.
>>
>> Dennis Paulson
>> Seattle
>>
>>> On Apr 29, 2026, at 5:06 PM, Ann Kramer via Tweeters <tweeters...> <mailto:<tweeters...>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Tweets,
>>> I have a question about a juvenile Red-Winged Blackbird who has made my backyard his home for the past week. I thought he had left a few days ago but since then realized he frequents my backyard only when the sun is out. So he's back again today. I suspect he might be spending time near one of the marshy areas less than a mile from here. I'm still pretty new to this area and am used to Western Tanagers, Warblers and Evening Grosbeaks passing through in the Spring, but not marsh birds.
>>>
>>> I have an acre, tons of native trees in the back third, lots of natives in the front yard. But this is by no means a marsh. As the Wetlands I used to frequent when I lived in California was lousy with thousands of RWBB's, I love listening to his call but I'm concerned he is lost. There was another adult male with him the first few days, but he seems to have left now. Should I be concerned or should I trust he will find his way to his destination even without the company of his elder?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Ann
>>>
>>> Ann Kramer, Wildlife and Nature Photographer
>>>
>>> www.annkramer.smugmug.com <http://www.annkramer.smugmug.com/> >>>
>>>
>>> “Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.”
>>>
>>> ― John Muir
>>>
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