Red-winged Blackbird

About the Red-winged Blackbird

One of the most abundant and familiar birds in North America, the male Red-winged Blackbird is glossy black with brilliant red-and-yellow shoulder patches that he flares to defend territory and impress females. The streaky brown female looks so different she is often mistaken for a large sparrow.

In spring and summer, males sing their gurgling conk-la-ree from cattails and fence posts, puffing out those red epaulets in constant display. Highly social outside the breeding season, Red-winged Blackbirds gather in enormous flocks - sometimes mixed with other blackbirds - to feed in fields and roost in marshes by the thousands.

In Texas they are common year-round in marshes, wet fields, roadside ditches, and farmland across the state, their numbers swelling in winter with northern arrivals.

A note from behind the lens: a displaying male on a cattail is a classic wetland image and, happily, an easy one - they perch in the open and repeat the display. Get eye-level across the marsh, wait for the shoulders to flare, and fire.