Stocky, broad-shouldered blackbird with a slender, conical bill. Males have a red shoulder patch bordered in yellow.
Stocky, broad-shouldered blackbird with a slender, conical bill. Females are brown and heavily streaked overall with a yellowish wash around the bill.
Displaying males sit on cattails and other high perches, spreading their wings and puffing out their shoulder patches while singing and calling.
Males sing frequently from cattails and other conspicuous perches.
Females are dark brownish overall, with crisply streaked underparts.
Often seen on the ground foraging or gathering nesting material. Females look very different from males, but have the same long, pointed bill and stocky stature. This video has no audio.
Nonbreeding males often look scaly and have incomplete red shoulder patches.
Males in California lack the yellow border on the red shoulder patch.
In addition to the male's "conk-la-ree" song, males and females make several calls including a harsh "check" note and a high, thin whistle.
Female birds in California often have more cinnamon tones to their feathers and dark undertail coverts with less streaking.
Birds breeding in Mexico lack the yellow border to the red shoulder patch.
Forms large flocks in winter in marshes and open habitats, sometimes with other blackbird species.
Males spend much of the breeding season sitting on a high perch over their territories and singing their hearts out.
Males display by holding their wings out to show off the red shoulder patches.
Breeds in wetlands.
Click on an image to compare
A stocky, broad-shouldered blackbird with a slender, conical bill and a medium-length tail. Red-winged Blackbirds often show a hump-backed silhouette while perched; males often sit with tail slightly flared.
About three-quarters the size of a Common Grackle
robin-sizedThere’s subtle variation in Red-winged Blackbirds across the country. The most obvious race is the “bicolored blackbird” of coastal California, which shows no yellow border on the red shoulders.
The Cornell Lab will send you updates about birds,
birding, and opportunities to help bird conservation.
