12.08.24: Female blackbird

A female Red-winged Blackbird perches atop a plant stem in Sharon Woods Metro Park, Westerville, Ohio.

A sure sign of spring in Central Ohio is the return of the Red-winged Blackbird. And it's a very noisy return, with the male blackbirds perched atop plants or trees attempting to attract females by flashing their red-and-yellow shoulder patches while belting out a call described by bird web sites as a loud, scratchy conk-a-reeeee or o-ka-leeeee.

I have a number of photos of male Red-winged Blackbirds calling on spring mornings. It’s an easy shot to get because the blackbirds are everywhere. The birds are so focused on their song that they pay little attention to me with my camera.

While the loud and flashy male Red-winged Blackbirds are easy to spot, the females — like this one I photographed in a park north of Columbus, Ohio — are more subdued, with streaky brown feathers that blend with the fields where they nest. Some bird books describe the female as looking like a large, dark sparrow. 

The females often stay hidden in the underbrush or near ground level in fields, looking for food and working on nests. 

This female had found a high perch in the open. It was late June so it is likely the bird’s brood had already left the nest and she was taking some “me time.” The bird was positioned above a field and the distance from other tall objects in the field was sufficient to turn the background into smooth shades of green.

Juvenile blackbirds have streaky brown feathers very similar to the female, although the ones I've seen tend to have a buff or yellow tinge on the face and on the tips of some feathers. A sure sign that the bird I'm photographing is a juvenile and not a female is when mom and dad hover just above my head attempting to scare me away. Junior remains perched, ignoring me with my camera and its parents’ efforts to protect their baby.

I know when the blackbirds show up in local parks it means colorful warblers, goldfinches and swallows aren't far behind. And my mornings photographing wildlife will be getting busier.