February 22, 2011 This morning, shortly after dawn, a significant number (35 or or so) red-winged blackbirds gathered around our feeders here on Flint Ridge. All were males except one female/juvenile type, which I took to be a juvenile male, with a suggestion of epaulets starting to show. Our principal seed is black oil sunflower. It was amusing to see the blackbirds trying to perch on the finch tubes. They were all around or under the set of tubes by the well-house (actually a sunken, covered pit enclosure, kind of a well-well.) The other feeder station (with sunflower, nyger, and suet offerings) had the usual assortment of other species: cardinals, house finches, goldfinches, juncos, tree, song and house sparrows, downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice and such, with nary a blackbird, in spite of being only 40 feet or so from the other station. It was interesting to see the difference between the two not-widely-distant stations. Later, after the morning farm chores, I looked out at the feeder station by the well, and there were only two blackbirds. On the ground with them was a reddish fox sparrow. All winter we have had occasional visits from a very dark fox sparrow, a rather more purplish individual, but I reckon this as a new arrival. The storm last evening deposited an inch or so of granular mixed forms of snow, ice and freezing rain, rendering the feeders an attractive option once more. Feeder birds were much scarcer during the recent thaw, but they are back in force today. Bob Evans Geologist, etc. Hopewell Township, Muskingum County ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]