The Red-winged Blackbirds are still around. This photo was taken a few days before the snowstorm, and I’ve spotted several males since. They’ve never stayed year-round in our neighborhood before.
Sometimes a few Red-winged Blackbirds will stop in for food and water during the spring and fall migrations, but they always move on to fields and wetlands and other suitable habitat. Last spring they found our neighborhood attractive. I know several pairs were definitely nesting somewhere near my yard. When I’d open the windows in the morning their conk-la-ree! song would be ringing out at top volume. I felt like I was standing in a marsh.
I assumed the families would head further south during the fall migration, but so far they are sticking around in the snow, too. Occasionally the birds arrive at the feeders with some of their more unsavory relatives like grackles (Common Grackle at the top, Red-winged Blackbird below):
I’m never happy to see any of the blackbird family at my feeders because they eat everything in sight within hours, but the Red-winged Blackbirds have been polite so far. Maybe it’s because there’s only a handful of them.
I’m hoping it stays that way.