Red-winged Blackbirds: Phenological Phenom!
Phenology – “a branch of science concerned with the relationship between climate and periodic biological phenomena (as the migration of birds or the flowering and fruiting of plants).
Phenological Phenom
It was probably twenty years ago that our neighbor Rebecca Brown asked the question “what is the best all-around bird?” This question, like all good questions, launched heated discussion at neighborhood gatherings for the next year or two. What were the criteria? Best song? Most beautiful? Most easily seen? Seasonal sensation? We often could narrow the field down to a couple of contenders based upon each of these. Purple finch, winter wren, and catbird vied for the best song. Grosbeaks, Baltimore Orioles and wood ducks were contenders for the most beautiful. Gold finches, chickadees, and other bird feeder regulars were among the most commonly seen, while woodcock were easily the greatest seasonal sensation. However, we quickly realized that the best all-around bird couldn’t be a one-hit wonder or a reluctant visitor to our yards. This realization certainly narrowed the field considerably, and the chickadee, if not the unanimous choices, was certainly near the top of everyone’s list. Chickadees are lively, they travel in small flocks, they bounce to and from your feeder pretty much every day in the winter, they have a variety of easily recognized calls, they gather round you every time you take a walk in the woods, and they are here all year. So, I guess I’ll stay with my choice of the chickadee for the gold medal as the Best All-Around Bird.
I bring this matter up not to focus on chickadees, but to raise another question more attuned to the themes of my essays, namely phenology. What animal can we recognize as a Phenological Phenom? Which animal is most closely aligned with the changes in the seasons? Conceivably there are insects or tiny mammals known to biologists whose life cycle and behavior are so closely attuned to changes in light and temperature that one could know the time of the year just by observing one of these creatures. Perhaps, but we cannot trust even avid bird-watchers or writers of essays on phenology, let alone the general public, to become more aware of the changing seasons based upon reports concerning a seldom seen creature! No, as in the debate over the best all-around bird, we need to find a well-known animal whose actions coincide with the seasonal changes. For reasons that I will lay out below, I view Red-winged Blackbirds as our region’s Phenological Phenom. These birds, known to the North Country populace more simply as “redwings”, are here from early May to early August, they are never shy about what they are up to, and their antics are perfectly aligned with our own view of the seasons.
Late Winter – Here they Come!
Let’s start with what we’re now anticipating a little more every day – signs of spring and the end of winter. Nominations for the best indication for the start of spring must include robins and woodcock along with redwings. In much of the northeast, the first robins are considered to be the harbinger of spring. For our area, I have argued that the woodcock’s mating ritual is an earlier and more spectacular sign of spring, an event that draws people out to the edge of nearby fields at dusk at the end of March hoping to hear the “peents” of the male and see him start off and fly wide circles high overhead in his attempt to attract the secretive female:
In Sugar Hill, … the woodcock mating ritual is definitely the first sign of spring. The woodcock is not the first bird to return, an honor that usually belongs to the redwing blackbird. But being first to arrive is far from being first in the hearts and minds of our (north) countrymen. A redwing’s arrival may be noted, but what is there for a redwing blackbird to do other than stop by now and then for a bite at the feeder while waiting for the ice to melt? [Sugar Hill Days, p. 33]
Did I really ask “what is there for a redwing to do?” While the male woodcocks spend their time and energy hoping to entice a female down the primrose path, the male redwings are here scouting out the best locations for their nests, checking out the competition for those sites, and providing a welcome addition to the birdfeeder crowd. Their brilliant red wing-spots of the red-winged blackbird certainly earn added style points related to the arrival of spring.
March 10, 2020. The first redwing arrived on the 7th; yesterday, we both heard them calling by the still-frozen pond. Today, about two dozen were by the spruce, enjoying the birdseed spread out for them.
March 7, 2018. An early-arriving redwing joins the bluejays that have been searching all winter for seeds by the feeder.
The males arrive first, joined a couple of weeks later by females and young males just beginning to show their colors. We see them near the feeder, poking in the grass for sunflower seeds, often with other blackbirds.
Photos and text by Carl D. Martland, founding member of ACT, long-time resident of Sugar Hill, and author of Sugar Hill Days: What’s Happening in the Fields, Wetlands, and Forests of a Small New Hampshire Town on the Western Edge of the White Mountain. Quotations from his book and his journals indicate the dates of and the situations depicted in the photos.
April 5, 2021. A young male is just starting to show some of what will become its colorful wing patch.
April 26, 2018. A female finally shows up.
Early Spring - Territorial Disputes
By the beginning of May, when everyone has come north, the males sing from their perches high above the pond, hoping to attract a mate and, at the same time, defining the borders of their territory. The angrier and more insistent they become, the more their wing patches are exposed. If the singing and the brilliant wing patches don’t suffice, perhaps a hard stare will, and if that doesn’t work, well then look out!
April 29, 2020, 42 degrees, sunny, beautiful! Two redwing blackbirds faced off high in the tops of two naked larch trees on the Point. They seemed to be working on boundary lines, as they fluttered about each other. One, from a high perch, looked down on the other and flashed its red stripes – photo! The other meekly sat still in the other, nearby larch, showing only yellow and, after a silent minute or two, flew off. While watching this little drama, I heard doves, woodpeckers, one very musical call from an unseen singer, and a variety of calls from the many redwings seeking nesting sites around the pond.
May 12, 2017, 65 degrees, partly cloudy, 6:10pm. Sitting at the screen house, I could see a couple of male redwings jostling on the dam. I couldn’t tell if they were fighting over territory, a lady, or something one of them had caught.
May 18, 2016. A very aggressive male redwing flew at Nancy when she walked along the dam yesterday; today, it tried to drive off two Canada Geese, so I took some pictures and a movie.
May 12, 2017. Territorial dispute? Or is a woman to blame? Either way, these two aren’t just playing.
April 29, 2016: why the “hard stare”? Is someone impinging upon his territory?
May 18, 2016. This male didn’t want any intruders near the nest he built in the reeds. “Two Canada Geese? Aren’t they too big for you?” Nope. He dove at them again and again, drove them to the shore, and continued until the geese gave up and flew away.
Late Spring - Settling Down to Raise a Family
By late May or early June, the redwings have resolved their territorial disputes, and both males and females can be seen foraging along the shore and flying across the pond. They still resent intruders.
May 28, 2000 – 60 degrees. A bittern flew from the alders by the dock to the reeds at the far end of the pond. Four redwings rushed at and around it, to no avail. They then settled down for a siege, sort of surrounding the large bird.
June 5, 2010. 7pm. The redwings didn’t like my getting too close to their nests. First they called – “tsi – tsi- tsi – tsi” – from the tops of trees by the pond. Then they hovered over my head, still calling. Finally, they buzzed me.
June 3, 2015. A redwing flies off across the pond, proudly displaying his wing patches.
May 21, 2120. A camouflaged female redwing searches for lunch at the edge of the pond.
Redwings build their nests a couple of feet above the surface of the pond within a tangle of cattails. There may be a nest every five or so yards, typically located only a couple feet within the cattails. A half dozen or more pairs are summer residents around our pond which is barely 100 yards long and 30 yards wide.
By the end of the first week in June, while local kids dream of leaving school for a long summer vacation, the youngest redwings dream of leaving their nest. Eventually, whether by design or by accident, their dreams are answered. The fledglings of course don’t know enough to be scared of anything. They just want to fly, so it is their parents who must be wary:
June 6, 2006, (6/6/6), 75 degrees, partly cloudy, lovely. A tree swallow buzzed me in the front yard. It flew in short circles around me and then landed eight feet away; it only flew off when I waved at a passing car. Out by the pond, an even friendlier redwing landed just two feet away from me! Presumably these birds were juveniles that had failed or missed the lesson on “Flying Away from Large Mammals.”
June 10, 2020, 76 degrees, breezy, very thin clouds, sometimes sunny,1315-1415. A pair of redwings chased a hawk away from the pond.
June 11, 2014, 11:15am.When Nancy and I saw something move in the weeds right at the edge of the pond, we both thought it was a big frog jumping into the water, but it turned out to be a recently fledged redwing blackbird. Despite our fears that it might drown, it quickly climbed out, fell back in, climbed out again, and lumbered off into the brush, with Daddy all the time shrieking at us!
June 14, 2018, 230pm, 62 degrees, cloudy. Redwings have fledged, but they haven’t strayed far from their nest. I took this photo of one sitting just inches from my feet in some low lupine next to the trail along the dam.
September 2, 2018. I found this nest as I paddled along the edge of a patch of cattails three weeks after the redwings had departed.
Summer Days – Learning to Fly
Redwings are reliable throughout June and July. No matter how quiet everyone else is, the redwings are busy finding food, fending off intruders, and keeping an eye on the youngsters:
June 21, 2014, summer solstice, 65 degrees. No frogs, no ducks, no dragonflies, just redwings clucking and fluttering and one busy bumblebee working the lupine.
June 23, 2008, 75 degrees at 6pm, partly cloudy, thunder in distance. Tree frogs very loud, bull frogs rumbling, several green frogs grunting, and lots of peepers peeping. Very active redwings; I think their young have just fledged.
June 26, 2019, 75 degrees, mostly sunny, calm, 1015-1130. The redwings don’t like me anywhere on the dam or near the frog bench. They buzzed me several times by flying barely a foot over my head. The spectacular flowers make the risk of aerial bombardment worth taking. Lupine is still at its peak, and there are more daisies every day.
June 26, 2020, 82 degrees, but feels cool because of the clouds. The first redwing fledglings are out and about, which explains why their parents have been dive-bombing close to my hat the previous two days.
July 28, 2004. Yesterday, female and juvenile redwings were fluttering about the pond. Today, I went to the pond at noon, and it was pretty quiet. A few green frogs and a leopard frog called, but there were no dragonflies. A song sparrow called a couple of times; a lone redwing called a warning from the reeds at the other end of the pond, flew up to the birches, and then flew off to the Lower Meadow.
Redwings are omnivores. They love to perch on the lupin in June, nipping at the freshest flower petals. They will also collect a variety of insects and worms that they find somewhere near the pond.
July 2, 2019. Lunch time for this redwing and her family.
Unfortunately for these extroverts, everybody has to eat. Large birds with much larger appetites are well aware of the redwings, their habitats, and their habits:
June 21, 2019, 68 degrees, cloudy. At 515pm, a harrier flew low over the house as we sat on the porch. I went out to the pond, worrying about the merganser family, which turned out to be safe in the center of the pond. However, I heard some cries from the reeds and shrubs at the right of our end, and the harrier flew off holding a small bird in its claws, being chased by several red-winged blackbirds.
Beginning of Fall - Time to Leave
In early August, once the juveniles have had a couple of weeks to test their wings, the red-winged blackbirds get ready for heading south. Now I am no longer buzzed when I walk along the dam. Instead, as I approach the large patch of cattails at the end of the pond, dozens of redwings will burst into the air, flying out and around in formation, and usually dropping back to where they started. This goes on for only a week or two – and then they are gone. And when they are gone, the pond is noticeably silent. It is a new season.
Redwings are so active and so noisy, that the day that times when I don’t hear them are worthy of a note in my journals:
July 29, 2016, 80 degrees, mostly cloudy. There are no redwings to be seen or heard around the pond.
August 3-5, 2014. Migrating birds in the front yard on August 3rd: a half dozen starlings plus two or three bluebirds, and a gold finch (both the first since spring). The redwings have been silent, presumably because they have departed.
Foliage Season - Heading Home
When the local redwings depart our pond, I believe they go to Pearl Lake or another nearby wetland that is large enough to accommodate large flocks of hungry birds preparing for their fall migration. Usually, the only redwings that show up nearby after mid-August are lonely individuals that somehow have yet to find the staging area:
August 28, 2013. The first redwing I’ve seen in a couple of weeks arrived at the pond yesterday. Perched at the top of a pondside alder, he was calling plaintively like a cardinal. Perhaps he was nervous or just lonely. Perhaps with good reason: today, while swimming at our end of the pond, I suddenly heard him calling much faster and sharper than usual. I looked up to see a northern harrier swooping low barely ten feet above the pond.
However, a couple of times, I have been surprised to see dozens of redwings rise from the reeds at the far end of the pond when I walked out to admire the golden larches and the fading fall foliage.
October 18, 2011. A flock of redwings, which had been out of sight within the cattails at the far end of the pond, flew up as I walked out along the dam. They quickly coalesced into a group, circled over the Lower Meadow, then began a larger circle of the pond before eventually returning to where they started.
Phenological Phenom
Based upon what I have witnessed, red-winged blackbirds certainly have earned a nomination for the Phenological Phenom Award. Their arrival coincides with the end of winter. Their territorial disputes enliven the glorious days of early spring. Their concerns for their families are evident throughout the summer. And finally, their departure coincides with the first chilly nights signaling the approach of fall in the North Country.
Are there any other nominations? What about bears? Will reports of bears emerging from hibernation will soon attract our attention as a sign that winter is ending? No, that is not enough, because we don’t see bears or any other large mammals on a regular basis at any time of the year. How about the toads and frogs whose calls in April and May will announce the coming of warmer weather, or the fireflies whose displays are brightest at the summer solstice? Yes, these certainly are seasonal highlights, but where are these creatures at the end of winter or the beginning of the fall? In the middle of summer, dragonflies and damselflies suddenly appear in abundance, but how many people can actually identify even a couple of them? Yes, many of them are beautiful and they’re easy to see, but a Phenological Phenom needs to be a more recognizable creature that is not merely a summer show-off.
Could any other of the other resident birds compete for the award? Warblers, swallows, wrens and others certainly attract our attention from time to time, but none of them are nearly as active for so long as the redwings. In short, I cannot think of any other contender for the award. Many others provide one or two sign posts along the phenological journey, but only redwings are with us from the end of winter through the beginning of fall.
So keep an eye out for the redwings, for they will soon be announcing their presence through songs whose shear exuberance will make up for what they lack in musical tone. Anticipating no objections, I therefore proclaim the red-winged blackbird to be the Phenological Phenom of the North Country. In order to avoid confused responses from any of the vast majority of people who have never heard the word “phenological”, I suggest that the press release be more colloquial and less scientific by using a nickname that rhymes with another, much more famous award (for best movie, play, TV show? I forget, but it is big-time!):
Red-winged Blackbirds Win Phemmy Award!
