RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS: MARSH-LOVING ICTERIDS

Dr. James J. S. Johnson

Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?

(Job 8:11)

Speaking of birdwatching in Texas, ornithologist Stan Tekiela says, “It’s a sure sign of spring when [migratory] Red-winged Blackbirds return to the marshes.” [Quoting from Tekiela’s BIRDS OF TEXAS FIELD GUIDE (Cambridge, MN: Adventure Publications, Inc., 2004), page 9.] 

Of course, Minnesota hosts Redwinged Blackbirds in early springtime, weeks before the last snowdrifts melt away with warming spring temperatures.

Of course, what could be a more iconic marshland plants than cattails, which Redwings love to perch upon, all over America’s Lower 48 states (as well as much of Mexico and Canada)?

Cattails are wetland plants, often growing on pondshore’s or along drainage ditches. 

And where you have cattails, you often have Red-winged Blackbirds, known to ornithologists as Agelaius phoeniceus, sometimes nicknamed “Redwings” (but not to be confused with the Eurasia’s thrush that is also nicknamed “redwing”), , as was noted in a previous blogpost “Redwing Pond”, posted at https://leesbird.com/2019/11/04/redwing-pond/.

The most successful way to observe the behavior of Red-winged Blackbirds is to locate a marshy area where a number of them can be regularly found, pick one or two of the more active birds, and follow their movements for about a half hour.  A characteristic of Redwings is that they alternate periods of active displaying with periods of quiet and feeding, so you cannot just show up at a marsh and expect immediately to see all of their marvelous displays.

Donald Stokes, A GUIDE TO BIRD BEHAVIOR, Vol. I (Boston: Little, Brown & Company / Stokes Nature Guides, 1979), page 275.

Red-winged Blackbirds are one of my favorite icterid (blackbird family) birds.  The males sport colorful epaulets (i.e., shoulder-wing feather “bars”) of pale yellow and red stripes, which contrast strikingly against their otherwise glossy black plumage.  The females have a more camouflage-hued brownish plumage, accenting the brown feathers with ivory-white mottling and outlining (and “eyebrows”). 

Above and below are some splendid photographs taken by Christian/creationist wildlife photographer (in Minnesota), showing how beautiful (and plentiful) these Red-winged Blackbirds can be.

Red-winged blackbirds are not picky eaters — although they mostly eat plant material, such as seeds (including seeds from various weeds, from birdfeeders, as well as from rice or other grain seeds) and available berries (including blackberries and blueberries). Redwings also eat a mix of small animals, especially insect adults and larvae (including flies, moths, butterflies, dragonflies), spiders, earthworms, periodical cicadas, and even snails.

How nice it would be to see Red-winged Blackbirds perching upon cattails that constitute a fence-like edge along a pond-shore or a drainage ditch!

Thank You, Lord, for making these marsh-loving icterids.

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