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While at Flushing Meadows Corona Park near my house in Queens this evening putting my new lens through its paces,* I was entertained by the strafing runs that the Red-winged Blackbirds were taking at every Fish Crow that flew by. The Red-winged Blackbirds are just protecting their eggs and young from a known nest predator [...]

Just the mention of the name conjures notions of fear and loathing in some folks, like farmers. Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) Male (click on photos for full sized images) This time of year, Red-winged Blackbirds are gathering on nesting grounds in wetlands but also in uplands and agricultural habitats. In about six to eight weeks, [...]

Wallace Stevens’ “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” is a marvel of modernist poetry. It is only 246 words long, divided into thirteen sections, each labeled with the corresponding Roman numeral, and a surface reading will show that it is about, not surprisingly, thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird. Reading deeper, though, will [...]

Okay, I meant to write an entertaining post. I honestly did. But I have been sick with different kinds and forms of cold since the beginning of December with no interruption, and so has my entire family. And I am sick of winter, too: first there was no winter at all, with scarcely a night below [...]

You may already know about this, but I was not aware that a pure white Blackbird (the thrush, not the icterid) can be found at Rufford Abbey Country Park in Nottinghamshire, UK. In fact, this leucistic lovely (check out the pic) has resided at the park for the last four years. Thanks to reader Sher Buckner [...]

It was a dark and stormy night. Turdus “Blacky” Merula sat near the trunk of the small evergreen in the backyard that was his territory’s centre, hunkered down and head tucked in to shelter from the rain. He was an old male in his prime, and he had seen many things – but never had he [...]

Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) are robin-sized blackbirds found in prairie and mountain meadow wetlands of the western and central United States and Canada.  They are conspicuous not only because of the male’s bright yellow head and breast and their highly social behavior, but they produce some pretty strange calls as well. You can hear the Yellow-headed [...]

The national bird of Sweden is the Blackbird Turdus merula, otherwise known as the Common Blackbird or Eurasian Blackbird, though, of course, in Sweden it is not known by any of those names but as Koltrast.*  The Blackbird became the Swedish national bird as a result of a newspaper poll in 1962.  Beyond the charisma [...]

Birds falling from the sky dead in mass quantities seem to be the hot button story of 2011. Each time I meet up with friends who are non birders or even somewhat aware of birds, they ask me, “What’s with all the dead birds?” Every time I think the story has gone the way of [...]

After seeing my life Burrowing Owls in San Bernardino I still had until 5 PM when I was supposed to pick my brother-in-law up at work.  That meant that I had about six hours of birding time ahead of me and I was determined to make the most of it!  What better place than the [...]

It’s been a very wintry winter here in southeastern Ohio. As each passing front has embraced our ridge-top farm, it has given us new things to enjoy and new birds to watch. Some of these winter-borne souls are regulars and we greet them like old friends—the purple finches, a smattering of pine siskins, the last [...]

(One should use a new year as impetus to try new things. Here’s one I’ve been pondering for a while…) Looking for a place to initiate discussion or share something random yet compelling related to birds, birding, nature, or conservation? You’ve found it. Welcome to our first Open Thread! Don’t be too rude, crude, or commercial. Otherwise, have [...]

How many of us are really aware of the plight of the Rusty Blackbird? Sure, it’s not flashy, it’s rarely a target species for many as it’s buried there in the back of the field guide, and often can be difficult to tell from other blackbirds especially given the Icterid propensity to hang out together [...]

Here at 10,000 Birds we think it is very important that we tackle the big issues of the day, the issues that can effect everyone, birder or not.  And if there is anything that is constantly on everyone’s mind in recent days (and that we are constantly getting email inquiries about) it’s the inside of [...]

With sun all weekend in New York City and temperatures north of fifty degrees Fahrenheit we can all be forgiven for thinking that spring is here early, and here to stay.  Not only was it warm and sunny but the enormous snowbanks from the recent blizzards have dwindled to virtually nothing, saturating the ground and [...]

Grackles are of the Icterid family, the New World family of birds that includes blackbirds, orioles, oropendolas, meadowlarks, caciques, the Bobolink, and cowbirds.  The word grackle derives from the latin word graculus*, which describes the small European corvid, the Jackdaw, which some grackles vaguely resemble.  There are eleven species of grackle, or, there were, but [...]

Blackbird singing in the dead of night, Take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise. Blackbird singing in the dead of night, Take these sunken eyes and learn to see. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free. [...]

Do you live in the southeastern United States (broadly defined)?  Are you a birder?  Then you should be helping count Rusty Blackbirds (Euphagus carolinus) right now!  Over the last forty years Rusty Blackbird populations have cratered, dropping between 85% and 98%.  Obviously, something is drastically wrong and the Rusty Blackbird Working Group and eBird have [...]

Sometimes an easy bird can become difficult to identify.  Such was the case with the molting bird below, a species that has crossed my path hundreds of times.  It is an icterid, a family that includes blackbirds, grackles, orioles, cowbirds and meadowlarks, but beyond that I was temporarily stumped.  My birding partner for the day, [...]

The Yellow-headed Blackbird I spotted back in the beginning of July is still hanging around the West End of Jones Beach. It is regularly sighted and reported on the listservs and I was pleased to see it in the median near West End 2 today in the middle of a day of birding. I was [...]