Since my last photography blog post about bonding with our neighborhood songbirds, I’ve had many special moments with them! I think the birds here have somehow realized I take genuine solace in their presence. Even the red-winged blackbirds, the most scornful birds in the area, have relaxed around me.

My idea for this blog post was to make a diary entry about how the birds here have reacted to my attempts to bond with them. While some of them understandably continue to keep me at a distance, some of them (especially the gray catbirds) have been overtly enjoying the attention. In some of my pictures, it looks like they were deliberately posing for the camera!

Avian Formalities

I’ve arranged these from the more reclusive birds to the more approachable birds. I had a ton of fun reflecting on these encounters and the birds’ distinct personalities!

Red-Winged Blackbirds

Red-winged blackbirds have a reputation for attacking passersby for coming too close to their nests. Oddly, I’ve been exempt from this, even though I’ve gotten very close to the red-wings on many occasions, possibly within nest proximity.

I’ve made efforts to show them that I care about their boundaries, and they’ve acknowledged this in turn. While they love to scold me with their classically petty “CHECK!” calls, they also like silently observing me without scorn. It depends on their mood and the individual bird, of course!

A male red-winged blackbird “Checking” me during a morning walk
A female red-winged blackbird scolding me as I walk by

At the end of the day, both the male and female red-wings treat me like their annoying little brother whom they still care for. The epitome of this heartwarming conundrum is Randall, a male red-wing who assigned himself to watch my every move in the summer of ’23. He may have told his fellow red-wings about my unusually attentive and affectionate awe of them. Thanks, Randall!

One afternoon, I had an aggravating bout of depression that sucked all of the energy out of me. I walked out of our neighborhood forest, half-jokingly thinking, “If only Randall were here to scold me…”

Lo and behold, a few seconds later, I heard the tell-tale “CHECK!” coming from the trees near me. Randall, or maybe another male red-wing, had come to scold me out of my depression! Truthfully, I’m sure he was just keeping an unnecessarily intense eye on me, but giving me that *special* attention lifted my spirits.

Randall closely observing me near our house on a walk home one evening

I love the red-wings dearly, and it truly warms my heart that they’ve more or less reciprocated my affection with how they react to me. My respect for their boundaries paid off in the form of these great portrait shots:

Starlings

Starlings are hysterical! Wary but hysterical.

They’ve remembered my favorite habit of “speaking” with the gray catbirds with my cheap bird call (a “hm-hm!” sound in the back of my throat). One of the males was so amused by this that he’s mimicked their “meow” call just to trick me into speaking back!

What’s most interesting to me about starlings is that in groups, they tend to avoid contact with me, but specific individuals will linger to observe me. It’s likely that the catbird-mimicker is one of these curious types.

He’s quite possibly the subject of this portrait:

Crows

I love my neighborhood crows! Getting them to trust me without food, however, has required persistence and patience.

They started off flying away with harsh, scolding “CAW!” calls, but there came a point when they realized that I genuinely, sincerely adore them.

In the fall of ’23, they started relaxing around me and coming to observe me when they saw me stepping outside. They can easily recognize me because I love waving at them whenever I see them. In return, they’ve let me get pretty close without admonishing me.

In fact, one of them was so impressed by my friendliness that he came to pose for me on a telephone wire, all with a “crow smile”:

House Sparrows

House sparrows are a “dichotomic wild card” in that the males and females have reacted quite differently to my attempts at bonding.

The males are rarely approachable. They tend to fly away when they see me coming. When irritated, they also make hilarious jammed-printer noises!

Females, on the other hand, have been oddly friendly with me. While the males rarely linger for a picture, the females have willfully posed for me on the chainlink fences in our park, as seen below:

It helps that the female house sparrows and I have closely interacted since the summer of ’23. I frequently see them on the ballpark fences or cutely perching in the holes, watching me walk around with my camera with a curious head tilt. They don’t see me as a threat, and a few individuals will occasionally linger behind even when the rest of the group flies away.

The males have been slower to relax around me, but when they do, the results have been fantastic! I have reason to believe that one male house sparrow was jealous of the attention I’ve given Sam, my song sparrow buddy. One afternoon, he perched next to me on this twig, posing with what looked like a self-satisfied smile:

He may or may not be the same male in the picture below:

American Robins

Ah, the robins. Robins are what I call “starter photography birds” because of their impressive patience with curious people. While they have no qualms admonishing me with a firm “CHEEP-CHEEP!” if I get too close for comfort, they’ve also been some of my calmest photo subjects.

In a way, the robins here have “babysat” me in the sense that they’ve guided me to respect bird boundaries. In the past, they’ve been vocally upset when they think I’m too close to another bird, such as the red-wings. One male came to personally admonish me when he saw me accidentally ruffling the red-wings with my curiosity. In hindsight, he was 100% right.

After they realized I genuinely wanted to bond with them and all the other birds in our neighborhood, the robins have been incredibly approachable. They still admonish me if I linger too long with my camera.

An odd behavior I’ve noticed is that sometimes, two male robins will get into a tussle with each other when they see me. I have no idea how to interpret this. I’m just glad that they’re not attacking me!

No matter what, robins will always be my favorite bird.

One male, whom I’ve named “Will”, has been exceptionally quiet and observant, leading to some lucky portrait shots:

House Finches

House finches are such sweethearts! We’ve had one couple, whom I’ve affectionately named “Harvey and Helga”, who’ve repeatedly perched in our backyard tree or nearby. Harvey and the males have a lovely song, and while they’re shy per finch standards, they’ve noticeably relaxed around me.

I have some lucky phone footage of Harvey singing on our neighbor’s rooftop when he and Helga saw me coming outside one day!

Harvey (the male) was so cute, doing his little happy dance while he sang on the roof!

House finches are much more assertive and approachable than goldfinches. Even then, they can still be timid at times. Harvey and Helga, however, know my face well, and our familiarity has yielded some great photos so far:

Sam the Song Sparrow

Oh, Sam. I could write an essay on my bond with him and what he means to me.

As a song sparrow, Sam (named in honor of Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings) is spunky, bold, and impressively patient. He loves to perch on a conspicuous spot close to me, throw his little head back, and belt out the sweetest song.

Sam’s been observing me since ’23, and after I got my DSLR camera for Christmas, he’s enjoyed being my favorite neighborhood bird to photograph. It’s gotten to the point that I legitimately think he gets jealous when he sees me taking pics of other birds!

Here are some of my favorite Sam pics thus far:

Gray Catbirds

As others on the internet have noted, gray catbirds have big yet conflicting personalities. They love to sing for minutes at a time, but they rarely sing from outside protective cover such as bushes and thickets.

I love their cat-like calls, and in the summer of ’23, the catbirds and I held some fascinating “conversations” with each other. They would “meow” and I would answer with my own “bird call”. We could go back and forth for quite a while!

It got to the point one evening when we ticked off a cardinal of all birds! One of the catbirds and I were playing a bizarre version of “Marco Polo” where we kept answering each other as I walked closer to his perching spot. When I got too close to the trees, a male cardinal flew across the foliage with an angry “SQUAWK!”, silencing us both. Oops!

When the catbirds returned in the summer of ’24, they quite literally came out to greet me on several occasions. One of them even posed for me while sunning (using natural heat to kill off possible parasites), looking so happy and bold:

Bluebirds

Of all the songbirds I’ve bonded with here in our neighborhood, the bluebirds have been the friendliest. They’ve never admonished me for wanting to get close to them and have come to inspect me on several occasions.

In February ’24, one male bluebird posed for me on a brown twig, patiently letting me manually focus my lens and letting me get the best shot possible. It resulted in this wondrous portrait of him:

The bluebirds may have felt at ease with trusting me after observing my respectful approach to the robins. How the robins react to me has most likely influenced the affability of the other birds in our neighborhood. Bluebirds are excellent judges of character, and I’m grateful that they’ve deemed me trustworthy.

Even the younger bluebirds have posed for me! This male, likely a young adult bluebird based on the unusual shape of his beak, gave me the cutest head tilt in this portrait I took of him:

Bird Buddies

I’m grateful for all the bird bonds I’ve made in our neighborhood thus far. Earning their trust and respect through patience and friendliness has been an enormous blessing. They’ve let me get incredibly close for my best bird pictures, which has helped me get around my zoom lens’s limitations.

The neighborhood birds likely know what they mean to me and how much comfort I get from letting me get so close to them. While I struggle with depression at times (mainly loss of energy and feeling directionless), my special moments with them always chase that gloom away.

Now, if I can just get the goldfinches to open up to me…my next big birding goal!

All Images by Connor Brennan

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