red-winged blackbird and red-bellied woodpecker on feeder
Photo by J. Harrington
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The Cornell Lab of Ornithology makes no mention of feeders in their overview of the feeding habits of blackbirds:
Red-winged Blackbirds eat mainly insects in the summer and seeds, including corn and wheat, in the winter. Sometimes they feed by probing at the bases of aquatic plants with their slender bills, prying them open to get at insects hidden inside. In fall and winter they eat weedy seeds such as ragweed and cocklebur as well as native sunflowers and waste grains.
red-winged blackbird on tray feeder
Photo by J. Harrington
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Another fascinating, but depressing, feature of the photo immediately above, taken May 5, 2015, is the amount of green in the background. This year, a similar photo would not show even a hint of green leaves, unless something truly miraculous occurs over the next two days, something not envisioned by Wallace Stevens.
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
IAmong twenty snowy mountains,The only moving thingWas the eye of the blackbird.III was of three minds,Like a treeIn which there are three blackbirds.IIIThe blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.It was a small part of the pantomime.IVA man and a womanAre one.A man and a woman and a blackbirdAre one.VI do not know which to prefer,The beauty of inflectionsOr the beauty of innuendoes,The blackbird whistlingOr just after.VIIcicles filled the long windowWith barbaric glass.The shadow of the blackbirdCrossed it, to and fro.The moodTraced in the shadowAn indecipherable cause.VIIO thin men of Haddam,Why do you imagine golden birds?Do you not see how the blackbirdWalks around the feetOf the women about you?VIIII know noble accentsAnd lucid, inescapable rhythms;But I know, too,That the blackbird is involvedIn what I know.IXWhen the blackbird flew out of sight,It marked the edgeOf one of many circles.XAt the sight of blackbirdsFlying in a green light,Even the bawds of euphonyWould cry out sharply.XIHe rode over ConnecticutIn a glass coach.Once, a fear pierced him,In that he mistookThe shadow of his equipageFor blackbirds.XIIThe river is moving.The blackbird must be flying.XIIIIt was evening all afternoon.It was snowingAnd it was going to snow.The blackbird satIn the cedar-limbs.
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RRREEEeee! Thank you for sharing. I liked watching redwings in Maryland, where they travel in huge flocks. Never see them here at the far end of Virginia.
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