Yesterday morning, out on the farmlands east of Columbia, I came across a massive flock of blackbirds feeding in corn stubble along a graveled road. To my surprise, it was only one of several massive flocks that I would encounter.
As I drove past them, the flocks would rise and fall in spectacular aerial displays, partly in response to a pair of northern harriers that were patrolling the fields. Steady streams of blackbirds passed above my pickup, heading from one field to another. Over a three mile stretch, I must have seen at least 30,000 of those noisy migrants.
Those close enough to identify from my truck were all Brewer's blackbirds. This species breeds on the Canadian prairies and southward across the Northern Plains of the U.S; they winter throughout the Southern States and into Mexico. Permanent populations are found along the West Coast and throughout the Intermountain West but, here in Missouri, they are purely migrants, often traveling in the company of grackles and other blackbird species.
