Date: 5/8/26 1:49 pm From: Ann Kramer via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Unusual Backyard Migrant: Red-Winged Blackbird
Dee Dee,
Your habitat sounds a lot like mine with feeders and native
plants, birdbaths, etc. One-third of our acre we have left native, with
downed trees and stick piles. We also use squirrel proof feeders and have
gone through a good share of trouble to place the feeders and use baffles
where the squirrels cannot either climb up or jump down. We have been
successful except for one of them. I just read that Safflower seeds are
not liked by blackbirds and a few other larger birds, so we filled it with
safflower. That is where the blackbird frequents. By the way, if any find
themselves with excessive squirrel or even rodent problems, there are seeds
that animals don't like. Safflower and nyger (thistle) as well as hot
pepper seeds ( as well as hot pepper suet) can be useful to deter animals.
So, it seems to me that this Red-Winged Blackbird will be here for at least
the Spring. He makes regular visits, now not only in the sunny afternoons,
but in the mornings, He doesn't seem to stay and sing as he did, but just
comes in to feed and then leaves. It will be interesting to see how this
Blackbird saga continues!!! I'm planning to grow a few varieties of
sunflowers and wondering now if that will bring in a flock of blackbirds.
Hmmmm.
Ann
On Sun, May 3, 2026 at 12:29 PM Dee Dee via Tweeters <
<tweeters...> wrote:
> Coming late to the party, contributing my experience with red-winged
> blackbirds (RWBB) in our mixed small-to-medium lot-sizes suburban
> neighborhood. Interesting hear what others experience in the broader region.
> My setting and backstory: Our lot is approximately one-third acre, a block
> inland from Puget Sound (the Sound) shoreline. Approximately 0.2 miles away
> is a small, creek-fed wetland, just onshore from the Sound, bordered by a
> mix of evergreen and deciduous trees. Been here 15 years and always had a
> birdbath, suet feeder and up to two sunflower-chip plus dried mealworms
> seed feeders. Several heavily-bearing native evergreen huckleberry bushes
> and 9 assorted blueberry bushes which 8 years ago were given over to the
> critters and birds, when we also gave up on our extensive organic veggie
> garden. Instead, we then planted several rows of seed-bearing sunflowers
> for about 4 years…unfortunately age and cost of watering restricts such the
> last few years.
>
>
> In first years, I sometimes heard RWBB but distant, down by the wetland,
> but no regular visitors. After a few years, saw them at times in the yard,
> mostly on the feeders during hard, snowy winters, or infrequently, males
> vocalizing on nearby utility lines. When the sunflower garden was in seed,
> we no surprise, frequently saw them in larger numbers, and year-round
> coming to the feeders even if no sunflowers in seed. Don’t recall ever
> seeing more than about 10 at one time, but their frequency finally forced
> me to add bird-size-control cages to seed feeders to keep within seed
> budget. They still can glean spillage with the other ground feeders, or go
> to the suet. Since adding the restrictive feeder cages, we still see them
> on occasion, year-round, just not in as great of numbers. I don’t have the
> knowledge to speculate on which are locals and which are migrants, but we
> see both male and female, though the majority are males, especially
> first-year. I love to hear and see these beautiful birds and am grateful
> that they persist in our local environment and occasional visits to my
> yard.
>
>
> Dee Warnock
>
> Edmonds
> _______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> <Tweeters...>
> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters >
