{"id":60640,"date":"2019-10-02T05:54:06","date_gmt":"2019-10-02T11:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=60640"},"modified":"2025-10-30T18:18:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T23:18:12","slug":"male-red-winged-blackbird-on-a-sunflower-perch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/10\/02\/male-red-winged-blackbird-on-a-sunflower-perch\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Red-winged Blackbird On A Sunflower Perch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Red-winged Blackbird perched on a sunflower – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Red-winged Blackbirds in northern Utah have finished nesting for the year and have begun to form large flocks to forage and roost together for the now chilly nights.<\/p>\n

Autumn is a time when the seeds of many plants that the Red-winged Blackbirds feed upon have ripened and the birds are taking full advantage of the season’s bounty and spend a large part of their days foraging.<\/p>\n

While we have native sunflowers in the state of Utah we also have domesticated varieties that are planted in fields and gardens that birds love to feast on. There is a pumpkin patch near the nature center at Farmington Bay WMA<\/span><\/a> where sunflowers are planted next to the road and birds come into to eat the seeds at this time of the year which is where this photo was taken last week.<\/p>\n

When I first saw this male Red-winged Blackbird it was hanging upside down and plucking the seeds from the sunflower but I couldn’t see the eyes of the bird. It didn’t take long for the blackbird to right itself on the seed head and look in my direction. I’ll be looking for more birds to photograph on these sunflowers for the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Red-winged Blackbird photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Autumn is a time when the seeds of many plants that the Red-winged Blackbirds feed upon have ripened and the birds are taking full advantage of the season’s bounty and spend a large part of their days foraging.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1022,697,419,26],"tags":[4004,4151,3813,3483,4062,4497,4324,5340,1275,105],"class_list":["post-60640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-red-winged-blackbirds","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-agelaius-phoeniceus","tag-blackbird","tag-blackbirds","tag-male","tag-pumpkin-patch","tag-red-winged-blackbird","tag-seed-head","tag-sunflower-seeds","tag-sunflowers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t