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[[Image:RWBlackbird2.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Displaying adult male in fresh plumage<br />Photo &copy; by {{user|David+Roach|David Roach}}<br />Wakodachatchee Wetlands, [[Florida]], [[USA]], 10 January 2009]]
;[[:Category:Agelaius|Agelaius]] phoeniceus
==Identification==
[[File:Red-winged_Blackbird_Female_STEF.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Female<br />Photo &copy; by {{user|STEFFRO1|Robert Steffens}}<br />[[Huntington Beach State Park]], [[South Carolina]], [[USA]], 15 May 2021]]
22·7 cm (9in)<br />
'''Male:''' A small blackbird with jet-black body and bright red shoulder patches (epaulets) edged with yellow.<br />
'''Female and Juvenile:''' Heavily streaked brown overall, very easily mistaken for a large sparrow, but note "blackbird" bill and strong streaking along body. 
====Similar Species====
Easily confused with the [[Tricolored Blackbird]], which is only found in western USA, from Southern [[Oregon]] south to [[Baja California]].
==Distribution==
Breeds from [[Alaska]] east across [[Canada]] to [[Newfoundland]] and south to northern Baja [[California]], central [[Mexico]], the Gulf coast, and [[Florida]]. 
==Taxonomy==
The [[Red-shouldered Blackbird]] from Cuba was formerly considered a subspecies of the Red-winged Blackbird.
====Subspecies====
[[Image:46457ZZ4I9938.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Female<br />Photo &copy; by {{user|nitiman|nitiman}}<br />Alto, New Mexico, [[USA]], 18 February 2007]]
[[Image: Red-winged_Blackbird_(young_male).JPG|thumb|350px|right|Immature male<br />Photo by {{user|Daddylion|Daddylion}}<br/>St John's Marsh, [[Michigan]], [[USA]], 27 September 2008]]

[[File:Red-winged_Blackbird_Ap-mailliardorum_JMR.jpg|thumb|350px|right| Adult female subspecies ''A. p. mailliardorum''<br />Photo &copy; by {{user|jmorlan|Joseph Morlan}}<br />Pacifica, [[California]], [[USA]], 09 April 2021]]
This is a [[Dictionary_M-S#P|polytypic]] species, which consistis of about 24 subspecies<sup>[[#References|[1]]]</sup> 
*''A. p. arctolegus'': South-eastern [[Alaska]] and Yukon to north-central [[US]]; winters to south-central US
*''A. p. fortis'': Montana to south-eastern [[New Mexico]] (east of Rocky Mountains); winters to [[Texas]]
*''A. p. nevadensis'': South-eastern [[British Columbia]] to [[Idaho]], south-eastern [[California]] and southern [[Nevada]]; winters to southern [[Arizona]]
*''A. p. caurinus'': Coastal south-western British Columbia to north-western California; winters to central California
*''A. p. aciculatus'': Mountains of south-central California (east-central Kern County)
*''A. p. neutralis'': Coastal southern California (San Luis Obispo County) to north-western Baja
*''A. p. sonoriensis'': South-eastern California to north-eastern Baja, southern [[Nevada]], central [[Arizona]] and north-western [[Mexico]]
*''A. p. nyaritensis'': Coastal plains of south-western Mexico (Nayarit)
*''A. p. grinnelli'': Pacific slope of western [[Guatemala]] to north-western [[Costa Rica]] (Guanacaste)
*''A.. p. phoeniceus'': South-eastern [[Canada]] to [[Texas]] and south-eastern US
*''A. p. littoralis'': Gulf Coast of south-eastern Texas to north-western [[Florida]]
*''A. p. mearnsi'': Extreme south-eastern [[Georgia]] and northern [[Florida]]
*''A. p. floridanus'': Southern Florida (Everglades to Key West)
*''A. p. megapotamus'': Central Texas and lower Rio Grande Valley to eastern Mexico (n Veracruz)
*''A. p. richmondi'': [[Caribbean]] slope of Mexico (southern Veracruz) to [[Belize]] and northern Guatemala
*''A. p. pallidulus'': South-eastern Mexico (northern Yucatán Peninsula)
*''A. p. nelsoni'': South-central Mexico (Morelos and adjacent Guerrero to western Puebla and Chiapas)
*''A. p. matudae'': Tropical south-eastern Mexico
*''A. p. arthuralleni'': Northern Guatemala
*''A. p. brevirostris'': Caribbean slope of [[Honduras]] and south-eastern [[Nicaragua]]
*''A. p. bryanti'': North-western [[Bahamas]]
*''A. p. mailliardorum'': Coastal central California
*''A. p. californicus'': Central Valley of California
*''A. p. gubernator'': Mexican Plateau (Durango to Zacatecas, México and Tlaxcala)

==Habitat==
Preferred habitats include fresh and saltwater marshes, rice paddies, sedge meadows, alfalfa fields, and other croplands.
==Behaviour==
Can fly at speeds of up to 30 mph during migration. Males sit with tails slightly flared.
====Diet====
Their main diet consists of seeds from grasses and other herbiage. They also eat a variety of insects and invertebrates.
====Breeding====
[[Image:40976Red-Winged Blackbird 01.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Adult male<br />Photo &copy; by {{user|markshep|markshep}}<br />Moreno Valley, [[California]], 13 May 2006]]
Although primarily a marsh bird, the Red-winged Blackbird will nest near virtually any body of water and occasionally breeds in upland pastures.  Each pair raises two or three broods a season, building new nest for each clutch.  Each time they build a new nest, which keeps the nest from becoming infected with parasites that could kill the baby birds.

After the breeding season, the birds gather with other blackbirds in flocks, sometimes numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Although blackbirds are often considered pests because they consume grain in cultivated fields, farmers benefit because the birds consume harmful insects during the nesting season.
====Vocalisation====
'''Song''': Composed of a series of introductory notes ''konk-la-ree'' or ''gurr-ga-leee'' followed by a terminal buzz or trill. <br />
'''Call''': Short and relatively simple - low ''clack'', sharp nasal ''deekk'', and metallic ''tink''.
====Movements====
[[Image:DSC 9017.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Fledgling<br />Photo &copy; by {{user|proudpapa56|proudpapa56}}<br />Central [[Pennsylvania]], 18 June 2017]]
Populations in western USA, Mexico and farther south are mostly resident. Those in northern and eastern North America are largely migratory.

==In Culture==
Sightings of this bird were reported in 1600 by English settlers.

==References==
#{{Ref-Clements6thAug19}}#Fraga, R. (2020). Red-winged Blackbird (''Agelaius phoeniceus''). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/62297 on 30 March 2020).
#[https://identify.whatbird.com/obj/144/overview/Red-winged_Blackbird.aspx What Bird]
#Yasukawa, K. and W. A. Searcy (2020). Red-winged Blackbird (''Agelaius phoeniceus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (P. G. Rodewald, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.rewbla.01
#Jaramillo, A. & Burke, P. (1999) New World Blackbirds: The Icterids. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
{{ref}}

==External Links==
{{GSearch|"Agelaius phoeniceus" {{!}} "Red-winged Blackbird"}}
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[[Category:Birds]][[Category:Agelaius]]

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