Red-winged Blackbird

♂ Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus

Red-winged blackbirds are native to North America. They can be found in prairies and fields, but are most often found in wetlands and marshes, freshwater and saltwater. Contrary to the sometimes streaky dusty brown females, the adult males have a distinctive red and yellow shoulder badge with the immature males wearing a badge of orange and yellow. As with most songbirds, the males are the ones found singing while the females prefer to remain out of sight. Warning calls and mobbing are done by the males.

Winter flock of male, mature and immature, and female, red-winged blackbirds.

Migrating flocks often contain a thousand individual or more, and like with many other migratory birds, roosting is communal with large, centralized populations. Red-winged blackbirds are extremely polygynous with a single male on average breeding with five females, but up to one-half of nestlings are the progeny of someone other than the territorial male. The female incubates, but both parents contribute to feeding the nestlings. Red-winged blackbirds are generalized feeders with greater consumption of animal material, such as snails, frogs, carrion, and insects, during breeding season, and with a greater consumption of plant material during non-breeding season, especially seeds such as from ragweed, cocklebur, and sunflower.