Birds are gone

[MineralMan]

36. Hmm...I'm not seeing that at all.

What I am seeing, though, is a shift into the migration cycle.

I'm in the Twin Cities metro area in Minnesota, BTW.

This year was a banner year for red-wing blackbirds at our hanging feeder. Serious numbers of them - enough to piss off some neighbors who don't like the noisy birds. About a week ago, they just left. This year's offspring are fully fledged now, and the migration is coming up. so, these flock birds are gearing up for that. Right now, they're doing flock feeding somewhere out in some field. They're not coming to the feeder like they did during the spring and summer months.

So, our bird feed costs have gone way, way down. But, we have a whole new group of birds at the feeder now. The goldfinches are back. They migrate farther north during the summer, but pause at our feeder again in the early fall, before moving further south. Our brown thrashers are hanging around and this year's fledglings are in their full adult feathers. They don't migrate at all, so we'll continue to see them all winter.

The half dozen species of sparrows also winter over here, and they're busy at the feeder, too. Chickadees are darting around grabbing seeds when they can wedge themselves in among the larger birds. Jays are stopping in, too, as are the downy woodpeckers. Most of those other species weren't around much when the mob of blackbirds was heavy. Now, they're back, eating their fill.

Same cycle as last year, and the year before. There is always something to see at the feeder, even in the depths of winter.