So THAT's where they all are!! There is just almost nothing here (S-W Quebec) so far, save for a lonely Northern oriole in the apple tree... And I had EVERYTHING for my backyard bird bliss at the same time last year! But the weather is pretty bad (Easternly high winds and scattered rain), so insect-eating species must not be in too much of a hurry to get to the North I figure... The black-throated blue is my one if my own favorites!

While traveling through the nature preserve, I finally encountered two pairs of brown headed cowbirds for the first time. Much to my surprise, the male looked like a smaller grackle with reverse coloring (Grackles have green heads and black / brown body, cowbirds have green body and brown heads). The female is about the same size as the male but is grayish brown. They sang rather sweetie and weren't too afraid of people. It let me get within 10 feet of them to get a closer look. In the old days, Cowbirds travel with bison herds, eating insects that associated with the herd. Their parasitic egg laying complimented their nomadic lifestyle. They have since moved into the suburbs. If they were parasitic, they would be considered beneficial birds since they eat a lot of insects. They travel with flocks of black birds like Ring wing and Grackles. Fortunately, even though I get a lot of blackbirds, I have only seen one cowbirds at the feeder. Apparently, Cardinals are nearly the perfect host, being the same size and diet. Laying eggs in a house finch nest will result in the fledging's death because they need more than a all vegetarian diet. Robins regularly eject cowbird eggs. On the downside, Cowbirds do apparently often check up on their fledging and retaliate by destroying the host's nest if the fledging or egg dies. Apparently, this is not malice but a way to force the host to build a new nest so that the cowbirds can build more eggs. Since cowbirds travel with Red wings and grackles, I wonder if they lay eggs in the red wing and grackle's nest.

well, it was deffinately a blackbird and the little bird resembled a baby house sparrow exactly. the little bird was brown, nothing like a starling it was way too small and the blackbird was diffinately a blackbird!! i knw what starlings look like- we have flocks of them quite often at my house!! i have blackbirds and sparrows in my garden at home to, and the ones in town looked the same. im not sure what type of blackbird, it was a normal garden one?! is there such thing as a cowbird in england, because iv never heard of one?

I used to feed stale bread to the outside birds.My neighbors dad,who lived at the house part time after retiring to Pa,,,told me it was no good for the birds. So for the last 5 years I have bought wild bird seed,..A year or so ago my neighbor told me I needed to stop feeding them as they pooped on his 50 thousand dollar truck.I told him to F off...Months later I got a warning from town saying I can only feed them with a bird feeder,...I got one,,,,Then he told me not to feed them more than once a day.At 63,with a bad hip,I fed them if I happened to see it empty whenever that was.I got a ticket from town saying the food that falls to the ground as they eat,is illegal.,,,How can people be so mean?