Adding Videos and…. What Bird Were We Surprised Not to See in North Carolina?
I have added more videos to this website. If you have yet to watch any, just go to the website menu on the homepage and click on ‘Videos’. The list will come up and just click on the title of the video you would like to watch. Turn up your volume as they all have sound.
So far I have added three videos from this trip of ours to The Outer Banks and The Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. I will be adding several more over the next week or so – so keep checking.
What bird were we surprised not to see? We were in fresh and saltwater marshes. Wetlands. Lots of grasses, reeds, water, thick plants at water’s edge. And according to its range map, this bird should be there all year round. And in fall and winter, it is its habit to be in flocks from several dozen to hundreds and hundreds. We were in miles and miles of great habitat. We looked everywhere and did not see one. Which bird was it? The Red-winged Blackbird.
If you look online, you will find articles and research to support both the view that this bird is abundant and its population numbers are stable. You will also find just as much information that says the population numbers of this bird are declining and it is an example of a fairly common bird that is in trouble. Which is it? I don’t know. I can tell you from my own observations of the Red-winged Blackbird, its population numbers vary from year to year – but I do think it is slowly declining.
One reason put forth by the research supporting a decline is the change in corn. Over the years, corn has been hybridized and now much is GMO. It is the contention of these researchers and scientists that the nutritional value of each kernel has dropped quite a bit. And that one way to observe this is through the drop in population of these blackbirds. The contention is these birds are eating as much as they ever did, but are not getting enough nutrition and so are in declining health.
I have no way of knowing if this is true or not, I can tell you in the 20 years we have lived in central Illinois, in our area and in the county north of us where Cleon and I have done volunteer work, we both think the population numbers of Red-winged Blackbirds are in slow decline. And both Cleon and I were very surprised that through our two weeks here in North Carolina – most of it spent in good Red-winged Blackbird habitat – we did not see one anywhere. And we looked. According to range map and habitat, they should be here.
If any of you have done any counts on these birds or have an opinion or observations, please share with all of us in the Public Forum. Are the population numbers of Red-winged Blackbirds stable or are they in decline?