Tag: Red-winged Blackbird

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Sound Can Brighten the Dingy Days

Red-winged Blackbird Male Courtesy Pixabay, Nichole Linzmeier, Contributor
Red-winged Blackbird Male
Courtesy Pixabay, Nichole Linzmeier, Contributor
For many of us who love the outdoors, the first half of March is a least favorite time of year. It’s a drizzly season. In northern Utah’s urban valleys, the lingering patches of snow are tinged with dirty gray that mirrors the dingy sky. Winter has lost its cleansing power, yet the budburst and first blooms of springtime are still weeks away. But if we close our eyes and listen, nature still can brighten the dingy days. A week or so ago, my wife and I stopped by a wetland we like near the Great Salt Lake. It had snowed the day before, and the marsh was half frozen. The remaining open water was packed with wintering waterfowl – pintails and coots and gadwalls and geese. We rolled down the car window to listen, and were greeted by the glorious cacophony of red-winged blackbirds.

That’s the bright side of early March. It’s a time when the early songbirds start to exercise their vocal chords. You might hear the complex warbling of a house finch, or the sweet piping “hee-did-it” of the black-capped chickadee. But to me, nothing says springtime like a blackbird’s song in an awakening marsh. It’s not a pretty sound, but it’s boisterous and exuberant. It embodies the joy of springtime.

But why now? Why not wait till things warm up a bit? And how do they know, when the nights can still be frigid and the days can still be dreary, that it’s time to gear up for spring?

The answer has nothing to do with temperature or precipitation. It’s a trick of the light. Or more specifically, the length of the day. For birds, that’s the most reliable calendar. When the time between sunrise and sunset reaches a certain number of minutes, photo-receptors in the avian brain trigger the production of hormones. That stimulates their sexual organs, telling the male blackbirds it’s time to get feisty. They begin to stake out nesting territories, singing their superiority to brothers and cousins. By the time the females arrive a few weeks later, they’ve sorted things out and are ready to mate and raise babies.

Unfortunately, not everything in nature uses daylength as an alarm clock. Plants and insects respond better to temperature. As the world’s climate changes, tree leaves emerge earlier, and so do the creatures that love to eat those tender spring shoots. The downside of change is exemplified by the plight of the European pied flycatcher. These birds spend the winter in Africa, flying north when daylength triggers the urge to migrate. For centuries they’d arrive just as caterpillars were emerging to feed on new foliage – a perfect source of protein to feed their hatchlings. But since daylength hasn’t changed while the climate has, now the flycatchers’ timing is off. Food is scarcer. Fewer nestlings survive.

Scientists have a name for this: phenological mismatch. We’re seeing more and more examples in nature where the timing of life events is off. It’s likely that a few species will adapt. Birds that get antsy early – jumping the gun on migration – will be favored by natural selection. But evolution takes time, and many species will suffer. In the meantime, we can take heart in knowing we can still count on songbirds to brighten this dreariest of seasons.

I’m Mark Brunson, and I’m wild about the sounds of Utah nature.

Credits:

Images Courtesy Pixabay, Nichole Linzmeier (Linzmeier1), Contributor https://pixabay.com/photos/bird-red-winged-black-bird-red-5276962/
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections and J. Chase and K.W. Baldwin. https://upr.org/
Text: Mark Brunson, https://www.usu.edu/experts/profile/mark-brunson/
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Faherty, Mark, Never mind the temperature, increasing photoperiod means birds are singing louder and longer, CapeandIslands.org owned and operated by the WGBH Educational Foundation (“WGBH”), February 21, 2018, https://www.capeandislands.org/in-this-place/2019-02-20/never-mind-the-temperature-increasing-photoperiod-means-birds-are-singing-louder-and-longer

Larese-Casanova, Mark, Blackbirds in our wetlands, Wild About Utah, May 26, 2011, https://wildaboututah.org/blackbirds-in-our-wetlands/

Birds on the wing, Living on Earth®, World Media Foundation, March 19, 2010, https://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=10-P13-00012&segmentID=6

Early spring is causing a mismatch of food, News, Cardiff University, April 30, 2018 https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/1168289-early-spring-is-causing-a-mismatch-of-food

Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, Profiles, UtahBirds.org, http://utahbirds.org/birdsofutah/ProfilesL-R/RedWingedBlackbird.htm
    Photo Gallery: http://utahbirds.org/birdsofutah/BirdsL-R/RedWingBlackbird.htm
    ID & Song: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-winged_Blackbird/id

Red-winged Blackbird – Agelaius phoeniceus, Fieldguide, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Utah Department of Natural Resources, https://fieldguide.wildlife.utah.gov/?species=agelaius%20phoeniceus

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Blackbirds in Our Wetlands

Blackbirds in Our Wetlands
Male Red-winged Blackbird
Photo Courtesy US FWS
George Gentry, Photographer

Hi, this is Mark Larese-Casanova from the Utah Master Naturalist Program at Utah State University Extension.

Now that spring finally seems to be arriving here in Utah, marshes, ponds, and other wetlands have sprung to life. It’s impossible to walk by a wetland without seeing countless birds rushing about collecting nest material, feeding, or advertising and defending territories.

Two birds most commonly seen and heard in Utah’s wetlands are the red-winged blackbird [Red-winged Blackbird call, © Kevin Colver]and yellow-headed blackbird[Yellow-headed Blackbird call, © Kevin Colver]. As their names suggest, both are black birds a little smaller in size than a robin. The red winged blackbird has a red shoulder with a yellow bar below, and the yellow-headed blackbird has a bright yellow head.

Both the red-winged and yellow-headed blackbirds eat the same foods, which primarily include insects during the summer, and seeds at other times of the year. They also both prefer to nest in stands of cattails, bulrush, or other wetland plants emerging from standing water. So, how is it that two very similar species of birds can coexist with the same habitat preferences?

Male Yellow-headed Blackbird
Photo Courtesy US FWS
Dave Menke, Photographer

Well, competition and exclusion might be better descriptions than coexistence. While the red-winged blackbird can successfully nest in a variety of habitats near wetlands, the yellow-headed blackbird specializes in nesting in the emergent wetland plants. This could be a disadvantage for the yellow-headed blackbird if it wasn’t for the fact that it typically nests in groups, or colonies, and are better able to defend a territory from intrusion by the more solitary nesting red-winged blackbird. So, in wetlands where only red-winged blackbirds occur, they are able to nest in the preferred habitat. But, when yellow-headed blackbirds are present, they force the red-wings to nest in less suitable habitat, even in tall trees far away.

While red-winged blackbirds can often be seen year-round in Utah, the yellow-headed blackbird is usually only here for the summer breeding season. So, think of it as if we were red-winged blackbirds and our distant, out-of-state cousins came to visit for the summer. They get the most comfortable beds in the house, and they eat all of our favorite foods. But, come the end of summer, they head back south, and we can enjoy our homes to ourselves.

To see photos of the two blackbirds mentioned in this program, please visit wildaboututah.org.

For Wild About Utah, I’m Mark Larese-Casanova.

Credits:

Audio: Blackbird calls courtesy and Copyright Kevin Colver https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections
https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections
Images: Courtesy US FWS: https://Images.fws.gov
Text:     Mark Larese-Casanova, Utah Master Naturalist Program at Utah State University Extension.

Additional Reading:

Miller, R. S. 1968. Conditions of Competition Between Redwings and Yellowheaded Blackbirds. Journal of Animal Ecology, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Feb., 1968), pp. 43-62.

Minock, M. E., and Watson, J. R. Red-Winged and Yellow-Headed Blackbird Nesting Habitat in a Wisconsin Marsh. Journal of Field Ornithology, Vol. 54, No. 3 (Summer, 1983), pp. 324-326.