Image © 2005 Jim Jung and licensors. All rights reserved.

Red-Winged Blackbirds

While this species is present year-round in our area, there is a seasonal population shift where northern birds move south during the winter months. Whether our summer population of Red-Wings move further south in winter to make way for the northern arrivals or remain and mingle with their northern brethren hasn't been conclusively determined but the latter option appears to be the case.

At any rate the males with their bright red epaulets appear at the beginning of the calendar year and begin claiming nesting territories in fields and wetlands. Depending on the weather the females will arrive two weeks to a month later and pair off with propertied males to build nests and raise their families.

This is an extremely numerous species with winter flocks in our area sometimes approaching a million or more birds. This is also one of the few bird species that are more numerous now than at the time of first settlement. Originally confined to open marshes and treeless wetlands where they nested in stands of cattails they have since expanded their habitat range to include wheat fields and pasture land thanks to the clearing away of the forest that originally covered our region.

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