Blackbird Behavior Question (1 Viewer)

Hello. I live in a townhome in South Florida, and I often leave birdseed at my window, and go to the lake a few steps from my house to throw bread to the fish and birds.

The most commonly seen bird around me is a blackbird; not the red-winged kind, but one that looks like this : http://travelbyphotos.com/images/black-bird.JPG (not my photo)

It's nesting season now and for some reason, one decided to build a nest in the tree right in front of my house. Like, I walk out my gate and the nest is 5 steps in front of me (though well-hidden in the leaves). Now, as townhouse neighborhoods are rather cramped places, there is the traffic of 4 households walking right by the tree daily.

Every time someone steps outside, the birds start chirping incessantly. I don't know much about bird calls, but you can probably guess what it is - it's a short, loud call repeated over and over again. I'm guessing it's some kind of warning, but then.. why would they put their nest there in the first place?? (I don't know if the nest is even the reason... blackbirds are always a bit annoying around people, very unlike the few other songbirds we have around here...)

I'm curious about their behavior though. When I walk outside to throw food to the lake and birds, they start following me. every few steps i take, they will fly over to the tree or bush nearest me. but, they never get any closer, and when i throw food to them, they ignore it and keep chirping. They only take the food after I'm gone. >_> Occasionally, another bird will perch near me with the blackbirds but quickly leave.

Unfortunately they're really starting to annoy the people that live here. Neighbors are annoyed at the noise and all the poop that is left everywhere. Today I noticed that some of the poop splatters are perfectly parallel to our sidewalk - Knowing how smart birds are, I wouldn't doubt them doing it on purpose.

So why do the blackbirds act this way? Are they pestering me for food, trying to warn me away, or something else? should I stop leaving food (I probably will since they don't seem too appreciative about it...)?

Hi there and a warm welcome to you from the entire staff here at BirdForum :t:

Your photo is of a Boat-tailed Grackle. Noisy little critters when you get a bunch of them together

The Grackles I ran into the last time I was in FL seemed to be used to having food thrown their way so it is quite possible that they associate you with food.

As hosting close to 50 common Grackles this season, I can well agree with your neighbors as they are noisy, messy and clean me out of food.

KC has answered you, but just to say welcome. Oh, and yes, feeding the birds is a great way to annoy your neighbours. Another good one is really loud music late at night.|=)|

Thank you for the warm welcome !

Ooh, thanks also for correcting me - A Grackle, is it? I really need to learn more about birds. 50 is quite a lot! I only see about 10 of them around here.. Living in an urban area next to a busy street has made it hard for me to see much wildlife. =/

I bought birdseed originally to encourage more kinds of birds to show up - we see blue jays and sparrows occasionally - but all that I've seen coming are more grackles. It seems like they're scaring the other birds away!

I sat outside for a while today without any food, to see if the birds would stop chirping. They chirped like crazy but eventually stopped. Sometimes when I was looking at something else, a bird would fly onto something right in front of me, as if trying to force me to pay attention to him... lol.