Red Winged Blackbird
Baltimore Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Grackle – female
Orioles
Yellow Headed Blackbird #193
When you’re driving along and thinking “wouldn’t it be cool to see a Yellow Headed Blackbird today” and there it is! The is a small flock of these unique birds in Southern Ontario and if your lucky you might see them.
Brown-headed Cowbird
I know many people don’t like these parasitic birds, however look a the sun shine reflecting on it’s brown head!
Oriole
Brightly coloured and fun to see the orange streak flash past, most people cheerfully spot them and announce “look an Oriole”
Gray Catbird #184
This bird sounds like a lost cat… walking along and hearing a cat, and low and behold it’s this fellow scurrying about in the leaves tossing them everywhere.
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackles
Brownheaded Cowbirds
Cowbirds are brood parasites. They deposit their eggs in nests belonging to birds of other species. Some of the birds they parasitize remove the eggs from their nests or cover them with new nesting material so they are not incubated.
They do like to be around large animals such as cows so they can eat bugs caused by the herd disturbing the ground.
Grackles
Such a common bird, I can’t get over how the light reflects such beautiful colours. These early birds were digging through the leaves looking for bugs or worms, they seemed to have some success even though the ground is fairly frozen still.
Rusty Blackbird #176
These birds have declined 85%-98% in the past 40 years and are listed as a “species of concern” or “vulnerable”. Their song has been compared to the grating of a rusty hinge. They have been documented feeding on sparrows, robins, and Snipe … interesting since I found this one watching a flock of Sparrows and Juncos in a hedge row.
Starling chicks
Starlings are loud, and the “me first” cries are very competitive, parent birds work fast to bring back meals and the chicks are eager to see them return. These are in our barn wall, I see them every day and finally took a photo. Our farm is home to so many different birds it is incredible.
Red Winged Blackbird – female
These are generally quick to fly, even tho we see many, it can be hard to get a clean shot of one. This female was distracted gather nesting material and I was able to sneak in a few shots.
Boat-tailed Grackles
This fellow was determined to have his photo taken, bird #151 perched right in front of the camera, the zoomed out photo shows how adamant he was! Like a Grackle we see at home, however this fellow was in Florida and is a super sized huge Grackle.
Grackles
These Grackles arrived from the south to the ice storm and starving hungry. I bought a bag of corn for them, they ate and ate. Here you can see the beautiful breeding plumage of the Grackles.