Too many red-winged blackbirds

May 18, 2020
7:10 am – 12:20 pm

Sand bar state park
Weather: Overcast and windy became clear skies around 10:20
Started at 52 degrees Fahrenheit but ended at 64 degrees Fahrenheit

Habitat
Sand bar state park has variety of habitats with a sandy bank, large open areas of water, and small fragments of fields and swamps and with trees. The body of water is large and unbroken. The swamp has tall reeds and some trees but not a lot of time was spent in the area as there where two geese and a swimming snake occupying the area. The sand banks were unbroken and usually did not contain large rocks. The field was short grass spotted with trees. The trees ranged from Eastern Cottonwood, cherries, wild grape, raspberries, red maples crossed with silver maple, and an abundance of ash.

List of birds

On the road
Osprey nest on the telephone with two ospreys
turkey vulture x1
mourning dove x1
Most of the birds remained off the road via nests, ospreys; flight, turkey vulture; or telephone line, mourning dove. The turkey vulture appeared to be following the road, likely for food. Mourning doves were watching the traffic and singing. The Ospreys were tending to their nest and one was found flying over me later, most likely getting food for their mate.

Sandy bank
spotted sandpipers x2
The spotted sandpipers were running along the shore with their tails bobbing up and down. They seemed to be pecking at the sand in search for food while running from humans and other birds.

Water
male mallards x3
common loon x1
Canada Goose x7

• One pair and a group of five
  herring gull x6
  double-crested cormorant x2
  The common loon, mallards, and pair of Canada geese were sitting on the water with no diving or dipping under the surface of the water. I later found the Canada geese pair in the swamp area so they may have been finding a place to nest or returning to nest. The herring gulls and double-crested cormorants were all flying above the water with dips towards the water. These species seemed to spend most of their time in the air rather than swimming on top of the water. Since double-crested cormorants dive for their food, they would not sit at the water but take the extra speed of diving from the air.

Open area with hardwood trees
Common grackle x10
American robin x5
Yellow-rumped Warbler x10
Female Downy Woodpecker x1
The birds in the open areas flitted from tree to ground very quickly. Their diet is nearly identical and so more aggressive actions to protect territory was expected to be seen. Instead, the species seemed to remain separate and did not interact much if at all. With mosquito season starting, there might be enough prey for disputes to not commonly occur.

Reeds
Great blue heron x1
Red-winged blackbirds x15
The Great Blue Heron was found in the reeds but did not care for company and quickly left when someone approached for an insider scoop.
The red-winged blackbirds were found in other locations besides the reeds, naming in open areas with hardwood trees and on the sandy bank. However, they were placed in the reeds category as this is where they faced the least competition, observed at the time, from other birds and spent the most time. On the sandy bank, a few antagonistic encounters involving chasing were observed between the red-winged blackbirds and the common grackles as they share a common food and value the territory quality in mate selection.

Posted on May 18, 2020 08:35 PM by tormiller