Red-winged Blackbirds

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS

One of my absolute favorite sounds of spring and summer is the dissonant, cranky call of the Red-winged Blackbird. "Conk-a-REE!" the males grumpily call, sounding like someone woke them up too early and there was no worm. GET IT?  The early bird gets the worm?


It was a typical spring SoCal Sunday morning at Laguna Niguel lake- it was sunny, and hot. Almost unbearably hot. Even the blackbirds were squirming under their feathers from the heat. I watched as a male Red-winged Blackbird viciously fended off two other males trying to steal his precious territory in a flurry of pecks. The male finished chasing off the intruder males. He clambered onto a reed and glared at the fishing boats going past before letting out his raspy "Conk-a-REE!" call, the proud gloat over being the owner of the best nesting territory on the lake.

The desirable territory all seemed to be on the left side of the lake, where it was marshy and contained much of the food the blackbirds favored. Most of the blackbirds who had claimed the best pieces of the marsh had arrived earlier than all the other blackbirds. I had seen them three months ago letting out weak conk-a-rees in the cold misty morning, being the sole blackbirds in the entire lake.

Late stragglers, inexperienced first-year or second-year males, and just plain horrible-at-defending blackbirds get stuck with lame territories. 

I had to settle with this horrible photo because I don't have another one of a FY male. This guy was stuck with a super lame territory and had no nesting females.

Why go through all that trouble to gain territory with more food on it? Red-winged Blackbirds are polygamous. The more  food a male has on his territory, the more females will choose to nest on it(for obvious reasons), and more offspring with his genes might be produced that year.

 Male Red-winged Blackbirds may not help build the nest or rear the young, but they expend a tremendous amount of energy patrolling their territory and chasing out anything that gets too close to his nest(S), dangerous or not.

"I am the magical Fly Head with Feet! Be afraid. Be very afraid!"


So next time you see a Red-winged Blackbird, don't just shrug it off as another "regular" or a "trash bird!" There's more to them then what first meets the eye.


Hope you enjoyed this weeks post!


-chiccadee


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