Welcome! This week I have some images of red-winged blackbirds for you. Now you might be thinking, “ugh, how boring” those birds are everywhere! It’s true, they are prevalent in almost every corner of North America, but it you stick with me for a moment you might find some facts about these birds fascinating.
Red-winged blackbirds are one of the first birds to arrive in Yellowknife in the spring and are sure sign of spring. They are fiercely territorial and can spend up to 25% of their day defending their territory. Within their territory, both males and females ferociously defend their offspring from predators. While many of the eggs in a male’s territory will be his offspring, a significant number will have been sired by other males.
The red patches on the males’ wings, called epaulets, get the attention of females and display dominance and health to other males. In one experiment, researchers covered the red patches of a male to find that he lost his territory to other males and was virtually ignored by females.
While the red patches help determine and maintain breeding selection and territory, males can choose how much of the patch they display. Red-winged blackbirds are communal feeders and roost together at night. In order to reduce instances of conflict, males will hide their epaulets often showing just thin a yellow band.
Blackbirds are quite long-lived as are many birds. The oldest recorded Red-winged Blackbird was 15 years, 9 months old. It was banded in New Jersey in 1967, and found alive, but injured in Michigan in 1983. It was able to be released after recovering from its injuries.*