Day 77: I am up to the eyeballs in blackbirds, all Red-winged and mostly male. I don't understand how they missed the memo that they were supposed to migrate to a warmer clime, although I suspect that discovery of a seemingly bottomless supply of black-oil sunflower seed might have been an influencing factor. Now it must be said that I love almost all birds (the short list of exceptions topped by pigeons and starlings), but these guys are drivin' me nutz. Even the Steller's Jays are intimidated by them when outnumbered five to one. I have taken to standing at the window and at the first sight of a blackbird incursion, I wave my hands or tap on the glass. That tactic is generally sufficient to move them into the contorted filber where they gather in droves as I wait them out. After half a dozen or a dozen attempts, they usually give up. At least my staying power is longer than theirs. Two or three Red-wings is plenty, thank you, and six is about the limit of my seed budget. Thirty is...well, thirty is more than any of us, Porch Parrots, Steller-fellers, Towhees or Sparrows can stand.
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