Signs of Spring

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The birds are back! It's one of the first signs of spring I've been told - but judging by our weather I'm not ready to buy that story! We had a tree full of hungry, raucous red wing blackbirds the other morning. The older males arrive before the females, presumably to scout out the best sites for their homes. The males stake out their territory and await the arrival of the females so they can court them and direct the female in building their love nest in tall grasses and reeds along the shores of a nearby reservoir. Since we recently had snow we put out seed for the hungry fellas. It was fun to watch them try to monopolize the food. We put our seed in a 12" diameter dish and one blackbird after another would hunker down in the middle of the bowl, spread his wings to show off his bold and bright shoulder patches of red and yellow as if to say, "Stay away, this is mine, all mine!"
Of course, the Blackbirds had already frightened the smaller birds away. We had recently hosted a Dark-Eyed Junco, Black-capped Chickadees and of course, our darling House Finches who stay around practically all winter and whose cheery song brightens even the dreariest morning.