Muddy--
I have had Starlings for several weeks already. Mostly--they are pecking away at the suets.
Especially the one year old suet cakes from Aldis. Reg. birds were not touching it. Starlings loved it. Each to his own!
My new, metal feeders are too small for a starling to comfortably sit there and eat.
There are NO feeder ports. The birds have to feed from the tray below.
Only smaller birds fit into this method.

Of course--I throw a lot of seed to the patio floor. That is a free-for-all.
The small birds and the doves like to feed on the floor. G.

Just put my feeders back out..... will see if large flock of starlings return or if they were just passing by.

I know these are crappy pictures but this little bird was at my feeder this morning, have never seen him before. He was black and white, did not see any other color.
Any idea what it could be?

I'm going to guess Snow Bunting.
https://www.google.com/search?...

Snow Buntings are not often seen in Md
http://www.marylandbiodiversit...

Heavens, he looks like a little parakeet! That is a finch-looking bill...

I'll guess Snow Bunting, though... unless he's an escaped pet!

cool sighting!

The first thing I thought was a parakeet too! I hope he comes back. I should put the screen up and wash the window, that might make pictures better, lol.

Neat! I hope you get another picture of it. It has more black on its chest than Snow Buntings, and its beak seems much lighter, too, so my guess is something else, like an escaped (or released) pet.

Some birds which escape or get released from captivity survive very well...like these birds at the feeder in Belgium. Terrible photos, I know. I think they were long-tailed parakeets. They were about the ONLY birds I ever saw at that feeder; native birds never figured it out!

For those close enough to do a day trip.
The Snow Geese are back at Middle Creek.
Just do a search for Middle Creek and Snow Geese and you will find out everything you need to go.
http://www.wgal.com/article/th...

Escaped pets are a possibility. I have read that there are colonies of parakeets in NYC.

There are uneaten Aronia berries and Winterberries in my yard....maybe I'm overdoing it with the seed and suet!

I have uneaten winterberry as well. I didn't put out any seed or suet this year. I did leave the seed heads on many plants over winter. Need to do the clean up. Got a lot done the last two days. I taught one of my grandies how to prune back butterfly bushes. We did one together and I let her tackle the other on her own.

Good for you for teaching her how to prune! I bet she was proud of herself.

Maybe the winterberries haven't been exposed to enough freezing temperatures to make them sweeter.
I left seed heads, too, and I hope the birds ate lots of those seeds so I don't have too many volunteers. I want some, of course, but not thousands!

Goldenrod and asters were still throwing a lot of stuff when I was breaking them off to clean up the garden. Ugh. I have enough of those already.

Ric and I along with Mom and JR headed out to see the Snow Geese yesterday.
Best time to see them is either early morning or late afternoon when they move out into the fields or back into the lake. We were there mid afternoon and were not disappointed. We saw several very large groups move back and forth.

Ric found a small flock of Trumpet Swans off in one area away from the Snow Geese and got a pic of them and there were a dozen or so Blue Birds one posed for Ric for quite a while but with his long lenses on the camera the pics didn't come out. His sharp eye even picked out a Canvas Back Duck mixed in with all those Snow Geese.

Wow @HollyAnnS that is a huge flock of snow geese! About triple the size of one on the Eastern Shore farm I visit. Maybe the flocks are joining up for the trek north. How big is that lake and how far away from you in which direction? Ahhhhh Blue Birds.

Starlings have moved on. Lots of sweet bird song now at dawn.

Judy, Copied the first comments from local paper. The link is from the Nat Audubon Society
There may be little snow on the ground around Lancaster County currently, but there is a blizzard of white at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area.
The annual spring migration of snow geese from wintering grounds in the eastern and southern states back to breeding grounds in the Arctic tundra (northern Alaska, Canada and Siberia) has begun quite early.
As of Tuesday, Middle Creek officials reported seeing about 70,000 snow geese settled on the 360-acre lake near Brickerville in northern Lancaster County and feeding in surrounding fields.
They came in a week earlier than usual this year because of the warmer weather. Many people say that at the right time (Mom included) you can't see the water at all.

http://www.audubon.org/importa...

Mariposa, where do you go for snow geese? Are they still coming through? My folks have friends in Williamsburg... the PA sanctuary is a bit far for therm...

Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge (an hour from Annapolis in Rockhall)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Blackwater is probably the best but a bit further.
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/b...