{"id":4574,"date":"2012-03-02T04:00:29","date_gmt":"2012-03-02T11:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4574"},"modified":"2025-10-30T10:35:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T15:35:20","slug":"red-winged-blackbirds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/02\/red-winged-blackbirds\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-winged Blackbirds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red-winged Blackbirds are birds that I associate with spring, the males begin calling perched on top of reeds, cattails, grasses and shrubs and flash their brightly colored coverts to attract a mate.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Red-winged Blackbird (Agelius phoeniceus) – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/350, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Red-winged Blackbirds are one of the most abundant\u00a0songbirds in North America. They prefer marshes and wetlands and build cup-shaped\u00a0nests woven with grasses and mud.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Red-winged Blackbird with nesting material – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When I photographed the female Red-winged Blackbird above I had been walking on a narrow path through a stand of mangroves to get to a tidal lagoon to photograph shorebirds.<\/p>\n

When I heard a rustling sound and this female with nesting material in her bill popped up from the ground to perch on the top of the mangrove. I took a few pictures and quickly went on my way.<\/p>\n

I didn’t want to disturb or disrupt her from building her nest.<\/p>\n

Lately I have heard the Red-winged Blackbird<\/span><\/a> males calling more frequently, it won’t be long before they begin the nesting season in earnest.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Red-winged Blackbird photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Red-winged Blackbirds are birds that I associate with spring, the males begin calling perched on top of reeds, cattails, grasses and shrubs and flash their brightly colored coverts to attract a mate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25,704,2000,419],"tags":[4004,4151,3813,3483,5132,4070,173,4077,4062,4258,780,4182,4450,4324,4018,3996],"class_list":["post-4574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-red-winged-blackbirds","tag-adult","tag-agelaius-phoeniceus","tag-blackbird","tag-blackbirds","tag-coastal","tag-female","tag-gulf-coast","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-male","tag-mangroves","tag-nest-building","tag-nesting-material","tag-nesting-season","tag-red-winged-blackbird","tag-sky","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-black-bird-female-nesting-mia-mcpherson-5888.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1bM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14615,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/03\/25\/red-winged-blackbirds-are-courting-and-nesting-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":4574,"position":0},"title":"Red-winged Blackbirds are Courting and Nesting at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Red-winged Blackbirds at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge have courting and nest building on their minds now that spring is upon us.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Red-winged Blackbird with nesting material at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-female-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-9331.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-female-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-9331.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-female-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-9331.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-female-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-9331.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14662,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/04\/01\/springtime-male-red-winged-blackbird-at-farmington-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":4574,"position":1},"title":"Springtime Male Red-winged Blackbird At Farmington Bay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning's sunny weather felt lovely compared to Sunday which was gray, windy, rainy and snowy and maybe this male Red-winged Blackbird was feeling the difference in weather too.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-winged Blackbird male on a spring day, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-male-spring-mia-mcpherson-0977.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-male-spring-mia-mcpherson-0977.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-male-spring-mia-mcpherson-0977.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-male-spring-mia-mcpherson-0977.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51046,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/23\/spread-eagle-red-winged-blackbird-at-fort-de-soto-county-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":4574,"position":2},"title":"Spread-eagle Red-winged Blackbird at Fort De Soto County Park","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In Florida I most often photographed Red-winged Blackbirds at north beach of Fort De Soto County Park where I could reliably find them in the sand dunes, sea oats, spartina and mangroves all year long.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spread-eagle Red-winged Blackbird male, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-mangrove-mia-mcpherson-0508.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-mangrove-mia-mcpherson-0508.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-mangrove-mia-mcpherson-0508.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7734,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/03\/02\/songs-of-spring-red-winged-blackbirds\/","url_meta":{"origin":4574,"position":3},"title":"Songs of Spring – Red-winged Blackbirds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Fairly soon I'll be seeing many more of the male Red-winged Blackbirds perching at the top of rushes and cattails singing springtime serenades for the females and flashing their brilliantly colored epaulets","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Red-winged Blackbird on a cattail at Bear River MBR, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-mia-mcpherson-male-5855.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-mia-mcpherson-male-5855.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-mia-mcpherson-male-5855.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":65045,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/02\/22\/male-red-winged-blackbirds-are-displaying-on-territory\/","url_meta":{"origin":4574,"position":4},"title":"Male Red-winged Blackbirds Are Displaying On Territory","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago there were plenty of male Red-winged Blackbirds singing and putting on displays in the marshy areas of Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Red-winged Blackbird Song Spread, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-winged-blackbird-displaying-mia-mcpherson-2276.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-winged-blackbird-displaying-mia-mcpherson-2276.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-winged-blackbird-displaying-mia-mcpherson-2276.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-winged-blackbird-displaying-mia-mcpherson-2276.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":121811,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/23\/urban-red-winged-blackbird-male-singing\/","url_meta":{"origin":4574,"position":5},"title":"Urban Red-winged Blackbird Male Singing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I dug way back into my files this morning to share this urban Red-winged Blackbird male singing. The date was February 23, 2014, the location was my local pond.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Urban Red-winged Blackbird male singing on a cattail, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/red-winged-blackbird-male-urban-songster-mia-mcpherson-0773.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/red-winged-blackbird-male-urban-songster-mia-mcpherson-0773.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/red-winged-blackbird-male-urban-songster-mia-mcpherson-0773.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/red-winged-blackbird-male-urban-songster-mia-mcpherson-0773.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}