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Red-winged Blackbird

Agelaius phoeniceus

Male red-winged blackbird showing red-and-yellow shoulder patches
Photo: Chuck Homler, Focus On Wildlife — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A glossy black marsh bird whose males flash scarlet-and-yellow shoulder patches.

RegionNorth AmericaSizeMediumColourBlackHabitatWetlands & water

How to spot it

The male is glossy black, about 18–24 cm, with brilliant red-and-yellow shoulder patches he can puff out or hide. The female looks quite different — heavily streaked dark brown, like a large sparrow.

Where it lives

Abundant across North America in marshes, reedbeds, wet fields and ditches, gathering into vast flocks with other blackbirds outside the breeding season.

What it eats

Seeds and grain for much of the year, switching to insects in summer, often gleaned among the reeds.

Song & behaviour

A loud, gurgling "conk-la-ree!" sung from a swaying reed. Males are fiercely territorial and will chase off birds many times their size.

Nesting

The female weaves a cup lashed to standing reeds or a low bush over water, and a single male may hold a territory with several nesting females.

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