The Red-winged Blackbird always reminds us of Halloween. Not sure if it’s because it’s a blackbird or because it has a splash or orangey-red on its wings, but at any rate, we’ve chosen the Red-winged Blackbird as our October 2015 bird in our 12 Months of Birding at the Inn series on the blog.
Red-winged Blackbird at Inn on Mill Creek in Old Fort, NC
Red-winged Blackbirds are considered year-round residents of our area, but we don’t see them very often. They mostly prefer watery spots like marshes in the spring and summer, and like meadows, crop fields and pastures in fall and winter. Also telephone poles, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The crop fields and pastures thing makes us think that they’re in abundance south of Old Fort on farmland around Painter’s Greenhouse or near the the farm at Warren Wilson College west of Black Mountain, which also conveniently borders a waterway, the Swannanoa River.. and by the way, Warren Wilson really is as beautiful as the pictures.
Red-winged Blackbirds do get around (migrate) a little bit, and come to visit the Inn on Mill Creek B&B from time to time. The one pictured above was photographed in November of 2013.
Male Red-winged Blackbirds are pretty easy to spot, black overall with a red and yellow block on their shoulder. They can puff the colored feathers up to make the color block look larger, too. Females are a streaky brown overall, with a pale orange or buff-colored throat. The females almost remind us of a Song Sparrow.
Here’s a cool fact from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:
Different populations and subspecies of Red-winged Blackbirds vary markedly in size and proportions. An experiment was conducted that moved nestlings between populations and found that the chicks grew up to resemble their foster parents. This study indicated that much of the difference seen between populations is the result of different environments rather than different genetic makeups.
I live in Cowee in Franklin NC. I have seen Black sleek birds with a strip of yellow along their wing. When they spread their wings it seems yellow under their wing too. They are a little smaller than a crow. Can you tell me what bird this is?
That sounds like a Red-Winged Blackbird (the wing has yellow on it). http://www.allaboutbirds.org/ is a great site for ID’ing birds.
Saw a redwing blackbird in my backyard on a suet feeder just now in Cary, N.C. Have lived here for 7 years and this the only one I’ve ever seen.
That’s wonderful! So glad you got to see one!
I’ve got half a dozen on my bird feeder here in Greensboro right now. So cool!!
Yea! That’s fantastic!
Just seen my first red winged blackbird in four oaks nc. Never seen one before today!
We just saw one on our feeders in Holly Springs, NC. Dec. 27,2021
Just spotted a red winged blackbird on my bird feeder today. This is the first time I’ve seen this bird! Came to seed feeder twice today and took seed. Beautiful bird! Such a beautiful red marking when wing is opened with just cream crescent showing when wing closed. Spencer Mountain NC (Piedmont area on South Fork of Catawba River)
I think what I saw yesterday was a juvenile male red-winged blackbird. It appeared to be dark brown with yellow, but no reds spot on its wing. I’m not sure what else it could be. I’ve never seen a bird like that in this area in Buncombe County.
I saw a red-winged blackbird in my yard today in Shelby, North Carolina. It is the first one I have ever seen.