Red-winged Blackbird [Agelaius phoeniceus] ~ 2016 #36

I have no shortage of pictures of the Red-winged Blackbird. They are very photogenic and will sit still long enough to get a few good shots in. I love walking into Piper Spit at Burnaby Lake when the air is filled with the Blackbirds’ song. They also like to hide in the bushes, as you’ll hear a chorus of what seems like 100 birds, but only see a handful.

The males are very distinctive with their shiney black feathers, sporting some nice red and yellow shoulder patches, that help them to express themselves. The females look entirely different and are more subdued, sporting streaky brown colouration.

When we were at Reifel last fall, my son was trying to convince some chickadees to eat some sunflowers from his hand. He was totally shocked when a red-winged blackbird perched himself on his hand instead. And they are certainly bold. Whereas the chickadees will land on your hand to pick up one seed before flying away, this fellow pretty much stayed on his human perch until all the seeds were gone.