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Wesley's Backyard Birds
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| One of the most abundant birds in North America, the Red-winged Blackbird is found in wetlands and agricultural areas across the continent. The Red-winged Blackbird is a passerine (perching/song) bird of the family Icteridae found in most of North and much of Central America. The black male can hide the brilliant red shoulders or show them off in a dazzling display. As they migrate north to breed, we'll first see the males coming in and then a couple weeks later the females will start coming in. We mainly see them in all the wheat fields around here in huge numbers, with them making their nest and laying their eggs down hidden with the wheat stalks. At that point the females aren't seen that often as the males hang around the area. The eggs are incubated by the female and hatch in 11-12 days. Red-winged Blackbirds are hatched blind and naked, but are ready to leave the nest ten days after hatching. During the breeding season they will raise hatchlings 2-3 separate times, laying eggs in different nests each time. They're long gone by the time the wheat fields are harvested. Red-winged Blackbirds are polygynous, with territorial males defending up to 10 females. |
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| Red-winged Blackbird, male | ||||||
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| Red-winged Blackbird, male, one-legged | ||||||
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| Red-winged Blackbird, juvenile male | ||||||
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