(Agelaius Phamiceus) Blackbird family
Called also. SWAMP BLACKBIRD; RED-WINGED ORIOLE; RED-WINGED
STARLING
Length -- Exceptionally variable--7.50 to 9.80 inches. Usually
about an inch smaller than the robin.
Male -- Coal-black. Shoulders scarlet, edged with yellow.
Female -- Feathers finely and inconspicuously speckled with
brown, rusty black, whitish, and orange. Upper wing-coverts
black, tipped with white, or rufous and sometimes spotted with
black and red.
Range -- North America. Breeds from Texas to Columbia River, and
throughout the United States. Commonly found from Mexico to
57th degree north latitude.
Migrations -- March. October. Common summer resident.
In oozy pastures where a brook lazily finds its way through the farm is the
ideal pleasure ground of this "bird of society." His notes, "h'-wa-ker-ee" or
"con-quer-ee" (on an ascending scale), are liquid in quality, suggesting the
sweet, moist, cool retreats where he nests. Liking either heat or cold (he is
fond of wintering in Florida, but often retreats to the north while the
marshes are still frozen); enjoying not only the company of large flocks of
his own kind with whom he travels, but any bird associates with whom he can
scrape acquaintance; or to sit quietly on a tree-top in the secluded,
inaccessible bog while his mate is nesting; satisfied with cut-worms, grubs,
and insects, or with fruit and grain for his food -- the blackbird is an
impressive and helpful example of how to get the best out of life.
Yet, of all the birds, some farmers complain that the blackbird is the
greatest nuisance. They dislike the noisy chatterings when a flock is simply
indulging its social instincts. They complain, too, that the blackbirds eat
their corn, forgetting that having devoured innumerable grubs from it during
the summer, the birds feel justly entitled to a share of the profits. Though
occasionally guilty of eating the farmer's corn and oats and rice, yet it has
been found that nearly seven-eighths of the redwing's food is made up of
weed-seeds or of insects injurious to agriculture. This bird builds its nest
in low bushes on the margin of ponds or low in the bog grass of marshes. From
three to five pale-blue eggs, curiously streaked, spotted, and scrawled with
black or purple, constitute a brood. Nursery duties are soon finished, for in
July the young birds are ready to gather in flocks with their elders.
"The blackbirds make the maples ring
With social cheer and jubilee;
The red-wing flutes his '0-ka-lee!'"
--Emerson.