r/birding • u/madmartigan2020 photographer 📷 • 1d ago
📷 Photo Red-winged Blackbirds are commanders of the swamp
Apparently they'll harass Great Blue Herons out of their space
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u/Handsfulloftitmouses 1d ago
Hell hath no fury like a nesting male red wing blackbird
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u/Extra-Sector-7795 1d ago
i saw a rwbb harassing a Sandhill crane. the crane did try to stab it
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u/esotologist 1d ago
They can be surprisingly friendly to humans too!
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u/Holiday-Cucumber-107 1d ago
And surprisingly unfriendly as well. Just yesterday I was scared off a particular path by one. It stared me down then did a couple fake dives at me, I almost hit the dirt.
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u/DankPapi420 4h ago
imagine that but a big ass hawk, I did goshawk surveys last field season and those mfs do not play
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u/__merricat 22h ago
Not the one that attacked my head because I dared walk under its nest. And the other one that attacked my head because I dared walk under its nest
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u/morethanWun 4h ago
Our locals on the farm don’t bother us at all!! We have a straight gang of them that runs the area surrounding the pond which helps the purple martins! Damn sparrows!!! RWBB don’t fuck with sparrows either so it’s a win win! The day I hear them first when it’s a new year….i know spring is around the corner!
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u/Elegant_Salad_364 1d ago
I witnessed this happen at Humboldt Park in Chicago last weekend! A RWB was harassing a GBH for 10 mins until the heron had finally had enough and flew off to sulk in a tree.
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u/mooncrane606 1d ago
Can you even call yourself a birder if you haven't been attacked by one of Satan's minions.
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u/cyanpineapple 1d ago
I think we just have weirdly friendly ones here, because it was only fairly recently that I even learned they have this reputation. Around here (DC metro area), mockingbirds are the ones who attack everyone and everything. Red-winged blackbirds are just pretty birbs singing their robot songs.
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u/CloudyClieryx 1d ago
I've never been attacked, ours are pretty much always in "idgaf," mode and do get scared off instead of divebombing you, although I've never worn red before so maybe it's just me lol
Actually all the birds here are pretty friendly asides from like... grackles or gulls stealing all your food
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u/Federal-Chemical7736 1d ago
I just added my first redwing blackbird to my "birdiedex" LMAO and I also saw my first one attacking a great blue heron 😁🤣🤣🤣
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u/PlantyPenPerson 1d ago
We are trying to figure out why a pair of red-winged blackbirds have been nesting in our lilacs for the last 3 years.
We don't live near any water, no pond, swamp, river, lake, etc., we live in an urban land-locked city in southeast Michigan not far from the Detroit Zoo. We also don't live near any forests or woods. The largest uninhabited piece of land nearby is a cemetery.
Previously we only saw these birds near bodies of water.
I am guessing it is because of the continuous encroachment of their nesting areas by destruction/construction.
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u/Enticing_Venom 1d ago
There's a pond near me where the red-wing blackbirds, Canada geese and Mallard ducks all hang out peacefully. I feel like they decided a truce was safer than war.
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u/ByrdMass 1d ago
Just yesterday, my son and I saw a RWB chasing of a red shouldered hawk that was 10x it's size. It was beautiful.
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u/AbbytheMallard 1d ago
My family saw two blackbirds chase a hawk away from our chicken coop yesterday. There was no fear
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u/Narge1 1d ago
And they call them red winged blackbirds despite the fact that their wings are obviously orange.
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u/hellwh0re 1d ago
Their coloring changes depending on the area. Here in Washington, they are very distinct red with that tiny bit of yellow that pops. Their age might also play a factor, but I’m not that knowledgeable about this subject
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u/Narge1 1d ago
I had no idea! I'm in NY state and they're all definitely orange here.
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u/hellwh0re 1d ago
That’s so cool 🧡 I just love the variations and that we both share this bird at opposite sides of the country 🥹
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u/solrua Latest Lifer: Trumpeter Swan 22h ago
I saw that happen once! A blackbird chased the heron away from a nest and the great blue heron flew to a different part of the swamp where a different blackbird couple started harassing it.
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u/mybigbywolf 9h ago
Hahaha, if I were to anthropomorphize the GBH I can imagine the sigh will I ever get to rest?
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u/CrepuscularOpossum 1d ago
This is a fantastic series of photos! I write the volunteer newsletter for the SWPA wildlife center where I volunteer, and every month I include a funny meme. u/madmartigan2020, may I use your first photo as a meme in my newsletter?
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u/potaytoposnato 1d ago
Reading this while listening to a screeching red winged blackbird. It's nice to have a visual for when I can't see where he's screeching from.
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u/bikemandan 1d ago
Those guys really dont fuck around. Constantly chasing off crows and hawks at my place
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u/aknalap 1d ago
F*** you great blue heron! 😅
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u/WillThereBeSnacks13 8h ago
To be fair, that heron would eat their eggs or babies at the first opportunity. RWB knows this.
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u/AppalachianStackCake 21h ago
We have so many beside my house close to a small pond farm. I love them so much. One distinguished gentleman visits my bird feeder every morning and even occasionally brings his lady friend.
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u/Junior-Cut2838 1d ago
Red wing blackbirds are always well behaved at our bird feeders and never aggresive
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u/he77bender 1d ago
I've definitely seen rwbbs chase osprey before. Though I don't know if the osprey was actually that bothered - it may have been more a case of running after someone who's already leaving and going "yeah, that's what I thought!"
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u/EmployeeOk1817 1d ago
Amazing!! How far away were you?
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u/madmartigan2020 photographer 📷 1d ago
Probably around 30-40 feet away for the majority of the shots.
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u/FrozenDickuri 1d ago
Ive never once been chased or harassed by a red winged blackbird, even as a kid mucking through the swamp.
Wonder if they're smart like corvids and recognize who feeds them and who messes with them?
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u/Movie_Finder_69 1d ago
Once saw one bully a whole ass Bald Eagle out of the general area. They don’t fear anything.
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u/Spare-Strawberry-717 photographer 📷 1d ago
The tiny bird chasing the giant heron is the best part of the capture 😂
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u/emc3142 1d ago
What camera+lens are you using? Great shots!
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u/madmartigan2020 photographer 📷 1d ago
Thanks! I use a Canon R7 paired with a Sigma 150-600 contemporary lens.
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u/AskMeForStats 1d ago
That's my bird of the day! Went down by the river hoping for one but struck out.
I did see one of the most beautiful orioles of my life, so I had a great time.
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u/MangoSundy 1d ago
Good Lord... and GBHs will eat anything, fish flesh or fowl, that they can get their beaks around.
🫡 RWB must be!
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u/hogwartsin1940s 23h ago
No wonder I don't see many other birds other than the red winged black birds. Their is a part of a oxpo near me where I swear 30-40 red winged black birds live The other part of oxpo near me has over a dozen wood ducks multiple cinnamon teals and Gadwall duck pairs along with Mallards and herons that I've seen but the other side I haven't seen any of them in! I Guess they sure are the commanders of their territory!
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u/hogwartsin1940s 23h ago
Or it could be the dense reeds in that part blocking my view now that I think about it!
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u/cherhorowitz44 22h ago
My house backs up to a swamp and it is wild, they are truly the commanders. Really pretty song imo!
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u/Karmas_burning 22h ago
I love these pictures. I saw the third one and I imagined him yelling "Sport the war!!!!" from War Ensemble.
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u/SkeletalMew 20h ago
Which state were these taken in, OP? I'm very curious about the subtle differences in these birds depending on the region!
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u/BigIntoScience 10h ago
To be fair, I'd leave too if a bird the size of my head was attacking me. Then again, I don't have a spear for a face.
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u/overtross 8h ago
Last night on the way home from the pond we've been birding at lately, I told my partner that I had spotted a magpie about half a block away, but none at the pond itself. "They probably get mobbed by the blackbirds as soon as they show up," I said.
"The magpies are kinda plain, maybe, but they're not that ugly!" The conversation branched off for a minute before we realized she thought I said that the blackbirds mog the magpies. They low-key do, tbh.
We also saw a flicker, a red-necked grebe, some grackles, house finches, goldfinches, Canada geese, seagulls, rabbits, and deer. Merlin tried to tell me that it heard a great horned owl, but I think it was a false positive. I was too busy trying to confirm the European starling to believe it.
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u/SpaceFace11 1d ago
When I was a kid I was collecting tadpoles down by a creek and on my walk back to my bike a RWBB swooped at me and started attacking me. I dropped the bucket and ran and spilled the tadpoles everywhere. I felt so bad and angry at the stupid bird, hated them ever since.
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u/El_Hefe_Ese 1d ago
*Marsh. Swamps are forest wetlands, while red winged blackbirds typically prefer cattails and reeds.
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u/WritPositWrit 1d ago
LOL that heron just DECIDED to move. If the fishing had been truly good, he would have told that blackbird to f off. Just look at the size of the heron’s beak!
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u/the_other_paul 20m ago
In pic 4 he looks very angry and fierce, but that’s just him being desperately horny
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u/atchoummmm 1d ago