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<\/p>\nReaders will remember from previous posts that a leucistic male Red-winged Blackbird has been visiting my yard and feeders sporadically for the last several years – usually in early spring and late fall. I’ve also seen him at a pond near my home.<\/p>\n
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He’s easily recognized because nine of the ten primary feathers on his left wing and two of the secondary feathers on the same wing are pure white, as opposed to the glossy black feathers on the rest of his body. This photo of him at one of my feeders was taken the last time I saw him, on May 12th of this year.<\/p>\n
I’ve seen him several times each year for the past several years but he’s been impossible to get quality photos of because he’s so spooky. I have to photograph him through the glass of my patio door because he always<\/span> flies off when I open the door.<\/p>\n Yesterday morning while I was puttering around in my kitchen I suddenly heard the whirring of thousands of wings at the same time I saw things grow darker outside. Both the sound and the sudden darkness were caused by…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n tens of thousands of starlings that were flying in to land on my leaf-covered back lawn. This is only a small portion of the starling flock. Many thousands more of them were perched in my big Catalpa trees and on everything else nearby – including my neighbor’s houses and yards. Friend and neighbor Shane Smith said he had at least as many on his back lawn. The noise they made was almost deafening.<\/p>\n As usual I had to take this cell phone photo, and all the others, through my patio door glass – thus the glare of the flash on the glass at upper center. It’s almost impossible to see but one of my feeders is directly below and slightly to the right of the circular glare spot.<\/p>\n Suddenly I noticed a flash of white from one of birds at that feeder (thanks to my ‘new eye’ for that!). It turned out that about a dozen of the “starlings” were actually Red-winged Blackbirds, all of which were fighting over the seed at the feeder.<\/p>\n And one of those blackbirds was…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n my old friend, the leucistic blackbird. When his wings are folded you can only see white at the tip of his left wing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This photo of him squabbling with one of his buddies illustrates the dramatic difference between him and a normally-colored adult male Red-winged Blackbird.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is the best shot I’ve ever been able to get of the leucistic feathers on his left wing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Perhaps the most interesting leucistic feather he has is the outer greater covert on his left wing – the smaller black and white feather just above his red and orange epaulet. It looks to me like that single feather is both black and white, with the colors split right up the middle.<\/p>\n This blackbird has become pretty special to me. If for no other reason than it’s the only blackbird, out of the literal millions I’ve seen over the years, that I can confidently recognize as a blackbird I’ve seen before.<\/p>\n I just might have to name him.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PS – I want you to know, yesterday afternoon I did finally get the leaves off my back lawn. It’s looking like getting my garden cleaned up may have to wait until spring. Oh well, more habitat for birds.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s been over seven months since I’ve seen my old friend. (7 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/starlings-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"starlings-ron-dudley\\"")
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