Bicolored Red-winged Blackbird in California ? (1 Viewer)

[Hockey.Lover]

I apologize for the poor images...first photos for the day and my camera on wrong settings.

Is this bird possibly a Bicolored Red-winged Blackbird? I am not sure you can tell well enough in the photos if it is...I saw it in April at Shadow Cliffs Park in Pleasanton. I always seem to have trouble with photographing these birds.

Thanks for any help with this.

Gail

 

[AmpelisChinito]

While the range does include Pleasanton, I believe your bird is still the typical old RW Blackbird. In the first photo you can see it best, but there is yellow present on the bird, just covered up mostly by the red.

Good birding,

 

[newarkbirdguy]

Hi Gail,

Sean is right, that's a "normal" Red-Winged Blackbird. But from my experiences out here, these guys are actually less common than our "bi-colored" form. But I also think that the yellow epaulets show up better in spring, and I've assumed that's because the males are in fresh plumage, but I'm no biologist.

Andy - Newark, CA

 

[Gentoo]

From what I understood, normal Red-Wings are virtually absent from central Ca. Not all bi-colored's have perfectly red epaulets with no yellow at all. Many may show a hint of yellow like this bird. An out of range Red-Wing will have a quite different song from the high pitched songs song by bay area Red-Wings.