Red-winged Blackbird

I keep running into red-winged blackbirds in the same spots every year, and every year I think I’ve worked them out. I haven’t.

Structure is the best clue at distance: in flight the red-winged blackbird has a particular proportion you start to recognize before any field mark resolves.

Taxonomy here follows a standard order-level frame (Passeriformes / Icteridae); common synonymies are noted when I’ve seen them used in the field.

A local patch has produced this species on roughly one in three visits, which is probably more than I deserve.

Some of my worst photographs are of this species. I keep trying anyway.