Blackbirds at Ridgefield

Red-winged Blackbird

Up Close and Personal

During the spring of 2008, I decided to try my hand at some close-ups of redwings, especially the males.

Raising Young

A male red-winged blackbird sings from a cattail at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Male red-winged blackbird sings on a foggy winter morning at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Early Start

The first step to raising young is to stake out your territory and find a mate. Male red-wings get an early start, both in the time of the year and the time of day. Even before winter has yielded to spring, the males at Ridgefield can be seen singing from the cattails in all kinds of weather. Arrive at sunrise when the refuge opens and the males will already be up to greet you in song.

	Giving the Boys the Business While her mate was singing from the tops of the cattails, this female was often out of sight down in her nest. When anything flew into her airspace, however, she popped right up and chased off the intruders. It didn’t matter if they meant her or her eggs any harm, everything from yellowthroats to wrens to sparrows to yellow-headed blackbirds got the heave ho. I spent many hours watching her little patch of the marsh and had to work quickly to get photographs of the other birds before she’d chase them off. I found the deference shown by the yellow-headed blackbirds the most curious as they were physically larger. They’d fly over to sing, she'd immediately go after them, they’d give her a bewildered look before heading back to the quieter interior of the marsh. After a few weeks of getting hassled, one male yellow-head did return the fight and they squabbled in the air for a while. I thought the larger bird would win over the female red-wing, but her wingman (her mate) joined the fray and the yellow-head retreated to safety.
	Mouthful When the young are born, males spend less time vocalizing from the tops of the cattails and more time on the ground gathering food for their little ones. This male had gathered a mouthful of caterpillars but still couldn't resist the urge to call out before popping down into the nest. He kept his mouth closed and didn't extend his body like he usually would have, so I was surprised at how loud the call was.
	Why They Go To All This Trouble Redwings spend a lot of effort raising their young, from when they start staking out their territory, defending their nest, to feeding the hatchlings. This is the reason for all that effort, a fledgling that flew a few feet from the nest, paused for a few seconds, then flew right back to the safety of the nest. Like with many species of birds, both male and female hatchlings resemble the adult female in coloration, but one look at the over-sized eyes and beak tells you this youngster hasn’t been out and about for long.

Redwings on Display

Male red-winged blackbird singing while perched on a cattail

Male red-winged blackbird sings on a rainy day

Male red-winged blackbird flaring his shoulder patches

Male Redwings

Male red-winged blackbird at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Fortress

Watching this redwing brought back memories of a favorite activity from my childhood: building forts. Couch cushions, pillows, bedsheets — Alexander the Great couldn't have breached the strongholds we created. While this redwing didn't build his little fortress, he certainly seemed fond of playing in it. While the other males were singing and displaying from the tops of the cattails, this one spent a lot of time near the ground in the little turret at the top of the fort, occasionally hopping around to various other parts to survey the landscape, before returning to peer out from on high.

I'm not sure if his fort impressed the ladies, but it made me instantly jealous.

Do I still build forts? No, of course not, I'm all grown up now. The cushions were like that when I found them.

Singing in the Rain

A male displays and sings in a light rain at Ridgefield. April and May are a great time to see redwings at Rigefield, as the males congregate on some cattails near the side of the road on the auto tour loop to display for the females in the marsh. From a very close distance, you can observe the frequent displays where they sing and stretch out their wings, showing the females their resplendent red and yellow shoulder patches.

Female Redwings

Female red-winged blackbird at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Simpler Red

Female redwings lack the brilliant coloring of the males. They do have red patches on their wings (you can just see a bit of one here) but they pale in comparison to the epaulets of their flashy partners and are often entirely hidden from view.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

The Yellow Head

Wherever Do They Get Their Name?

Even a distant glance of a male yellow-headed blackbird will show you where they get their name, but there’s no doubt up this close. Unfortunately the gray sky in the picture on the right doesn’t make for the most pleasing background, if he had landed a few inches lower I would have had a lovely green background …

For that image, I accidentally had the camera set at ISO 1600 and underexposed the image to boot, which hurts the image quality noticeably in the dark feathers, but unfortunately I can’t blame that on the weather.

Close up-view of a male yellow-headed blackbird's head at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Ready Or Not, Here We Come

One of my favorite signs of spring is the arrival of yellow-headed blackbirds. At Ridgefield, South Quigley Lake is the best spot to watch them, as the males may hang out at the edge of the lake next to the auto tour, providing a front row view as they sing (if you can call it that) and display for the females. Many times they stay in the interior of the marsh or flush if you drive closer, but sometimes you get lucky and find a tolerant bird.

Male yellow-headed blackbird perched atop a cattail at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Six Hours of Blackbirds

Male yellow-headed blackbird sings while perched atop a cattail at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

On this morning I spent six hours watching blackbirds. While I like to spend a lot of time watching my wildlife subjects, that’s a little excessive even for me. It’s also a bit of an exaggeration, as I spent part of my morning at Ridgefield hiking the Kiwa Trail or driving the auto tour.

But most of those six hours were indeed spent watching the yellow-headed and red-winged blackbirds as they sang and fought and displayed. The funny thing was, on the drive to the refuge I was feeling restless and didn’t think I’d spent much time in one spot.

The yellowheads weren’t staying still for long, either staking out their territory, chasing off rivals, or getting harassed by a red-winged female who flew up from her well-hidden nest and gave grief to all intruders. This made photographing them a challenge, as I also had to find a clear view through the cattails and get a background that I liked, and often had other photographers parked behind me.

While I did take pictures of other birds that day, it was the yellowheads that drew me out of bed before dawn, so I focused my efforts on them. I wanted one with the male facing towards me, as they often sing with their backs to the road as they try to impress the other blackbirds. Most of the time I got their backs or their sides, but sometimes I got lucky as with these fine fellows who really gave it their all, heads thrown back to really belt out their song.

The Objects Of Their Affection

Female yellow-headed blackbird preening at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Female yellow-headed blackbird straddling the cattails at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Female yellow-heads are harder to see, as they often stay down low in the reeds. It is the males who often betray their presence by singing nearby and dropping down into the reeds at the same spot over and over. Sometimes the females will pop up higher to check out their suitors or to preen and clean their feathers.

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