Four and Twenty Blackbirds....
This morning, there were closer to one or two hundred Red-winged Blackbirds flocked in the tall trees behind our barn. In the 4 1/2 years we've been in this quirky little house, I've only seen singles at my feeders less times than I can count on one hand... though I have periodically heard their liquid, bubbling call in the swampy area just beyond our yard. The sound reminds me so much of blissful afternoons as a kid at my grandparents' 1960s era, suburban house back home in Florida. This morning, exactly 1,202 miles North and half a lifetime away from there, dozens gathered in my trees and gurbled at the coming Spring. Aside from small bunch of stay-behinds, they all vanished within the hour.