Among the predictable subjects of calls to this desk each spring and fall are complaints that someone’s bird feeder is being “raided” or “taken over” by grackles. Many feeder-operators don’t take ...

SOUTH NEWFANE Some of the blackbirds are among the earliest songbirds to return to our Vermont neighborhoods. The blackbirds which return early are members of the blackbird family (Icteridae), and ...

SOUTH NEWFANE Last week, I was a music critic, reviewing the musical abilities of our locally common blackbirds: red-winged blackbird, brown-headed cowbird, and common grackle. My review was not ...

Despite being called “blackbirds,” they are all members of the Icteridae family of common songbirds and are frequently vividly colored. They are categorized as New World Blackbirds in North America to ...