I PUT A FEEDER UP TO PLEASE MY BOSS AND AM HAVING AN INVASION OF BIRDS THAT I’M NOT QUITE SURE WHAT THEY ARE… ABOUT THE SAME SIZE AS A CARDINAL WITH SIMILAR TAIL FEATHERS , NO NOTICEABLE CROWN , SOLID FLAT BLACK FEATHERS , SOME “MAYBE MALES OR FEMALES” HAVE A BROWNISH HEAD…ANY IDEA ???
All ya’ll birders: I have been feeding all types of birds on my deck feeder sunflower seeds! I got tired of the mess with the shells and switched to pre shelled seed and the birds wont eat them even the tree rats wont! What is the reason?
If they are cow birds (google images) like Polly said get your bb gun after em. This is the Only bird I’ve ever had my mom ask me to come over and shoot. Out west they used to use rocket propelled nets to catch and eradicate them and our Government still has programs to get rid of them. I’d guess and say roughly 15 years ago we had very little of them. Today they are all over the place in large flocks. A couple of years ago they had an article on Red bird, jays, and other bird numbers going down and cowbirds were discussed as being the main culprit.
We get them alot at my place on Johns Island. Pretty interesting species, I saw one source a while back that they not only jack other nests but have evolved with an extra thick shell to damage the other eggs in the nest to increase their odds.
“The Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) is a brood parasite, meaning that it lays its eggs in nests of other species. A female cowbird quietly searches for female birds of other species that are actively laying eggs. Once she has found a suitable host, the cowbird will sneak onto the resident bird’s nest when it is away, usually damage or remove one (or more) egg, and replace that egg with one (or more) of her own. The foster parents then unknowingly raise the young cowbirds, usually at the expense of their own offspring. Cowbird eggs require a shorter incubation period than most other songbirds and thus usually hatch first. Cowbird nestlings also grow large very quickly. These advantages allow them to command the most food from their foster parents, usually resulting in reduced nesting success of the host species.”
There’s an ‘app’ that may be able to help with identification. It’s called ’ the cornell lab Merlin bird ID". Put out by the Cornell Univ. birding program.
We use it to help us id birds in our back yard. Works really well, kind of a differential diagnoses of birds.
