BC> That won't work, the black birds outnumber the mockingbirds both in
 BC> numbers and size  .  Come to think of it, I haven't seen any
 BC> mockingbirds around my bird feeders.  Looks like the black birds may
 BC> have chased them out, too.  The black birds seem to know me by sight,
 BC> because when the feeders are empty, they watch for me to fill them and
 BC> then swarm when I leave.  (smart-aleck birds!!((g)))
Sounds to me like you're blaming the innocents.
Brewer's Blackbird is in the Oriole family.  Males are a solid, shiny
        black, with green and purple sheen, and bright yellow eyes.
        Females are solid black in the body, dark brown heads, with
        dark eyes.  Both have smallish, narrow, straight, black bills.
        But normally they are a bit on the shy side, except at the nest.
        And then in marshy areas there's the Red-wing Blackbird with the
        males' red and yellow epaulettes.
European Starling are identical between the sexes.  Both are black with
        small white dots over the head and body, heavily speckled in
        fall and winter, less so in spring when the bill turns yellow.
        The bill is large, long, and straight--would do justice to a
        woodpecker!  Eyes are dark, tails quite short.  Garrulous and
        gregarious.
Sounds to me like you've got Starlings.  They are garbage birds, the
sort of unspecific opportunists that adapt easily to human created
environments.  All you can do is resort to feeding hummingbirds and
goldfinches--a more generalized bird feeder will just play into THEIR
hands at the expense of native species.
... Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail me now!
--- Blue Wave v2.12 [NR]
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