Red-wing Blackbird Females Back on Territory Female Red-winged Blackbird Photo Jim Stasz Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. Male Red-winged Blackbird Photo Courtesy Peter S. Weber Now that male redwings have established their breeding territories, the first females are appearing. Like males, they often return to the same territory where they nested the previous year. Males return first, often before any open water is available, but females bide their time farther south until the weather and food supplies are more steady. Male and female red-wings look completely different. Many people have trouble believing they're really the same species! Why do you suppose males and females look and act so very different? Nesting Notes Like other songbirds, redwings build nests, incubate their eggs to keep them warm, and then take care of their babies. Females start building their nests within a few days of returning to a marsh. These nests are fairly large. They're usually close to the ground or surface of the marsh but are tricky to find. Redwings usually lay 2 or 3 eggs in a clutch, sometimes 4. One ornithologist tested the weight-carrying capacity of a redwing nest and discovered that the nest could support 1.8 kg. A fully-grown male redwing weighs about 2 1/2 ounces. A female weighs about 1 1/2 ounces. With the parent and the eggs, how much weight would an average redwing nest need to hold? What are some reasons that a nest can hold so much more? Watching Redwings Redwings defend their territory using both their visual displays AND their vocalizations. If you have access to a marsh where red-winged blackbirds are nesting, try to spend 15 minutes out there every day for a couple of weeks. Find a good observation spot where you can stand or sit, and watch and listen closely to the females. Can you spot where they are building nests? (Don't get too close!) How do females interact with males? How do they interact with other females? In some areas, females defend a territory against other females. In some areas, one male will nest with more than one female. Do you see evidence of either of these in your marsh? Taking careful notes, see if you can make a simple map of your marsh with circles around the male and female redwing territories. Blackbird Language Lessons Did you know that female red-winged blackbirds produce their own song? You can find out what's going on in the redwing world if you know what the birds are talking about! To learn more about redwing sounds, check out our Journey North Redwing Dictionary. Try This! Journaling Questions List as many reasons as you can think of that female blackbirds return a couple of weeks later than the males. Below we've listed the steps in constructing a redwing nest—but the steps aren't in the right order. That's your challenge! In what order would a red-wing blackbird do these steps in building a nest? The female lines the inner cup with fine grasses. The female weaves stringlike fibers around vertical supports such as cattails. The female weaves the bottom platform to this, using coarse, wet grasses and marsh vegetation. The male performs a "Symbolic Nest-site Selection Display," picking up and manipulating nesting materials in an area that the female is inspecting. Sometimes he performs the "Symbolic Nest-building Display," making nest-building movements by an existing nest from the previous year. The female uses mud to build the inner cup. The female builds the outer structure of the nest cup out of medium-sized, wet leaves and decayed wood.   Copyright 2004 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form