Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Icterids (/ ˈ ɪ k t ər ɪ d /) or New World blackbirds make up a family, the Icteridae (/ ɪ k ˈ t ɛr ɪ d i /), of small to medium-sized, often colorful, New World passerine birds. The family contains 108 species and is divided into 30 genera. Most species have black as a predominant plumage color, often enlivened by yellow, orange, or red.
The red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae found in most of North America and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and Guatemala, with isolated populations in western El Salvador, northwestern Honduras, and northwestern Costa Rica.
The female is brownish-grey with slight hints of the male's iridescence. The female's eye is dark brown, while the male's is bright yellow. Overall, they resemble the eastern member of the same genus, the rusty blackbird; Brewer's blackbird, however, has a shorter bill and the male's head is iridescent purple. [2]
A bare patch of skin that most female birds gain during the nesting season for thermoregulation purposes, by shedding feathers close to the belly, in an area that will be in contact with the eggs during incubation. The patch of bare skin is well supplied with blood vessels at the surface, facilitating heat transfer to the eggs. [56] brood parasite
The legs and the iris are black and the bill is long and sharply pointed. The male could be confused with the velvet-fronted grackle or the chopi blackbird . Its call of this bird is a loud "tchew-tchew-tchew" which is sung from an elevated position, [ 3 ] [ 4 ] and it also produces various trills and rattling sounds which vary in tone and pitch.
The common blackbird of the nominate subspecies T. m. merula is 23.5–29 cm (9.3–11.4 in) in length, has a long tail, and weighs 80–125 g (2.8–4.4 oz). The adult male has glossy black plumage, blackish-brown legs, a yellow eye-ring and an orange-yellow bill. The bill darkens somewhat in winter. [19]
The adult is a medium-sized blackbird with a rounded tail. The male is 25.5 cm (10.0 in) long and weighs 108 g (3.8 oz). The slightly smaller female is 23 cm (9.1 in) long and weighs 95 g (3.4 oz). The adult plumage is entirely black with a bluish gloss, and the bill, legs and feet are also black. The iris is brown.
It is sexually dimorphic, and the sexes resemble the respective sexes of the larger yellow-headed blackbird of North America, though the male yellow-hooded blackbird lacks white in the wings. In 2007, one was found in the Darien Lowlands of Panama. This was a rare vagrant, most likely from Colombia. [2]