Red-winged Blackbird ~~ male vs. female
We were sitting on a bench that was tucked away at the end of the pond enjoying the solitude and taking in the nature around us. We kept hearing the beautiful trilling song of the Red-winged Blackbird when suddenly he flew down and landed just a few feet away from us.
When the male flew away soon another bird appeared on some dried palm fronds on the other side of our bench. If I hadn’t done research, I never would have known that this new bird was the female and no doubt the mate. She was soon pulling tiny threads from the dead fronds to take away for nesting material.
I’m thinking (hoping) that we were deemed safe and harmless by them both because they came back many more times, going about their business, before we vacated our bench.
Male vs. Female: Many wildlife species are very similar in looks, some identical, some with just small but distinguishable differences, and often the female is a bit larger, to name a few. The male Red-winged Blackbird is easily recognized by the bright red and yellow shoulder patches on an all black body, but the female is no slouch at all in the looks department. Even though they don’t look even a little bit alike, the female is striking with her heavily streaked rich brown, tan and rust-colored feathers.
These birds are from the same family as cowbirds and grackles. They have a tolerance for a wide variety of habitats and Florida's population could be in the millions! After breeding, they gather with other members of their family, the cowbirds and grackles, in immense flocks that can number in the hundreds of thousands.
(if you wish to view full size, click on the pictures)
When the male flew away soon another bird appeared on some dried palm fronds on the other side of our bench. If I hadn’t done research, I never would have known that this new bird was the female and no doubt the mate. She was soon pulling tiny threads from the dead fronds to take away for nesting material.
I’m thinking (hoping) that we were deemed safe and harmless by them both because they came back many more times, going about their business, before we vacated our bench.
Male vs. Female: Many wildlife species are very similar in looks, some identical, some with just small but distinguishable differences, and often the female is a bit larger, to name a few. The male Red-winged Blackbird is easily recognized by the bright red and yellow shoulder patches on an all black body, but the female is no slouch at all in the looks department. Even though they don’t look even a little bit alike, the female is striking with her heavily streaked rich brown, tan and rust-colored feathers.
These birds are from the same family as cowbirds and grackles. They have a tolerance for a wide variety of habitats and Florida's population could be in the millions! After breeding, they gather with other members of their family, the cowbirds and grackles, in immense flocks that can number in the hundreds of thousands.
(if you wish to view full size, click on the pictures)