Red-winged blackbirds are a sure sign of spring

I was down in New York visiting family this past weekend and had a nice preview of what to expect during the upcoming weeks of spring.  Spring! They are a little bit ahead of us down there-still no leaves on the trees but there was green grass in the lawns and dandelions and daffodils blooming.  Robins were fighting over territory in the park.  My aunt was bracing herself for her annual springtime battle with ants in her Manhattan apartment.  Like here I found mud, peepers

Male red-winged blackbird defending its territory USFWS Photo

and wood frogs calling at night, and one of my favorites, red-winged blackbirds. 

Red-winged blackbirds arrived at my neighborhood marsh almost a month ago.  Back before the last set of snow storms.  They are there still but are a bit subdued, perhaps because they’re still waiting for the ladies to arrive.  This is in contrast to further south.  Down in New York mating season is in full swing, the males were busy perching in the cattails, on telephone wires and stream-side shrubs, singing from any high place they could find while simultaneously displaying those beautiful red-and-yellow shoulder patches that give this bird its name. 

Red-winged blackbirds are one of the most abundant birds in North America and are probably the most well-known of the blackbirds. The males are glossy black with those colorful shoulder patches.  They like to hang out up high and display.  The females have a subtle beauty-brown and streaky-they look like a large, stream-lined sparrow. While the males are displaying, the females are busy creeping through the undergrowth collecting food (the majority of their diet is insects in the summer, seeds in the winter) and building the nest.  The nests are works of art (as are most nests).  The female starts by weaving platforms of wet vegetation between reeds or low shrubs upon which she builds up layers of wet leaves and decayed wood plastered with mud to make a bowl that she lines with dry grasses (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). 

I have never knowingly seen a red-winged blackbird nest but naturalist friends have warned me about trying to get too close during breeding season.  Both males and females defend the nest with temerity and will not hesitate to dive bomb and peck at your head.  You will often see red-winged blackbirds chasing potential threats much larger than themselves—hawks and owls in particular-- they are notoriously bold in defense of their territory. 

Males arrive at the breeding site first to establish territories that are instrumental in attracting females.  Territories with dense vegetation so that nests can be hidden from predators and abundant food are the best.  Dominant males usually get the prime territory.  Once their territory is established, males attract females with their mellifluous calls and flashy epaulets.  The females chose males based on the attributes of their territory, males with especially poor territories might end up with no females, while males with choice territory often attract more than one female.  This is called polygyny, the type of polygamy where males have many female mates.  As many as 15 females have been found nesting in the territory of one male!  However, many of these females also mate with males from outside their territory.  Studies have found that often 25-50% of nestlings in a given territory were not been sired by the territory-holder.

Red-winged blackbirds are one of the most happy-sounding harbingers of spring.  If you aren’t familiar with their liquid song, go to a marsh right now and listen, if I can recognize it anyone can.  Ornithologist Frank Michler Chapman (1912) wrote this about how great it is to hear those first red-winged blackbirds of spring "A swiftly moving, compact band of silent birds, passing low through the brown orchard, suddenly wheels, and, alighting among the bare branches, with precision of a trained choir breaks into a wild, tinkling glee. It is quite possible that in the summer this rude chorus might fail to attract enthusiasm, but in the spring it is as welcome and inspiring a promise of the New Year as the peeping of frogs or the blooming of the first wild flower."