Episode 42: Red-Winged Blackbird – Voice of the Wild

Red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus). 

An iconic resident blackbird who’s growing numbers warn of spring’s approach. 

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The following Cornell Lab | Macaulay Library recordings were used in this episode: 

• Red-winged blackbird song and "chack" call by Wil Hershberger (ML509910)
• Red-winged blackbird "peteeet" call by Richard W. Simmers (ML509931)
• Red-winged blackbird nest alarm by Wil Hershberger (ML509921)
• Red-winged blackbird flock calls by Randolph Little and James Kimball (ML509916)

Sources and more: 

• https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-winged_Blackbird  
• https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/red-winged-blackbird 
• Dobson C, Kassenbaum D, Oehmke D, et al. 2023. Field guide to hotspots and birds in Illinois. Champaign-Urbana: Scissortail LLC. 
• Peterson RT, Peterson VM. 1980. A field guide to the birds : a completely new guide to all the birds of eastern and central North America. Fourth edition, completely revised and enlarged. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company (The Peterson field guide series ; 1). 
• Sibley D. 2016. Sibley birds East : field guide to birds of eastern North America. Second edition. New York: Alfred A. Knopf (Field guide to birds of eastern North America). 

What is Voice of the Wild?

If you learn to listen for them, you will find wildlife everywhere. Voice of the Wild is a podcast about wildlife and the wild sounds they make. Tune in every Friday to learn a new bird song, frog call, or insect noise.

This is Illinois Extension’s Voice of the Wild. A new wild voice in just a moment, so find someplace quiet, take a deep breath, and enjoy.

This blackbird is a midwest resident so some are here year round, but the vast majority migrate south for winter. That vacation, however, is short; they’ll return to fill wetlands and overgrown ponds as early as february.

The male’s deep black plumage with red and yellow patches on the shoulder is a familiar icon of spring and summer, but if you are a beginner birder don’t forget to learn the female’s plumage. It is Brown and strongly streaked. Its almost a right of passage for new birders to be fooled by that plumage into thinking they found a mysterious sparrow with an unusually long and pointed beak; this is the red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) from the blackbird family Icteridae

The red-winged blackbird is well known for its fluid and complex song but also has a variety of other vocalizations. For anyone who’s gone on a hike through a wet prairie or simply walked by the edge of a reedy pond, you’ll be familiar with the alarm calls they give when something has ventured too close to their nest.

Besides that full throated alarm, It also gives a simple CHAK, a high pitched “peteeett”, and other calls.

When the big flocks have returned in the spring, I recommend going to a wetland with a dense stand of cattaails around sunset. if its like most wetlands, you’ll be treated to a cacophony of their variable and delightful calls as the light dims and redwingeds return to roost. Here’s the red winged blackbird again.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for our bird sounds. And thank you for tuning in to learn a new wild voice with Illinois Extension.