Female Red-winged Blackbird Under a Bridge

If you were wondering if the male Red-winged Blackbirds had any females around to impress, here's 1 of those female Red-winged Blackbirds. Sexual dimorphism is strong in these birds, sometimes fooling people into thinking the males and females are of different species.

This particular bird seemed to be pretty busy under a stone bridge [1]. My 1st thought - this picture being from the spring - was that maybe she was building a nest under there. It would have the advantage of keeping her and her eggs out of the rain, and might be a location that aerial predators (hawks and owls) wouldn't find. And although they're not aquatic, Red-winged Blackbirds do like their lakefront properties. Thinking about it more though, I think this is unlikely.

Red-winged Blackbirds don't generally gravitate towards man-made structures, and it seems unlikely there's enough vegetation under there for her to build a water-adjacent nest. Finally, I didn't see her bringing any material down there; if I had, that'd be almost conclusive evidence some building was going on.

I'm left to assume she either knew there was food down there, or she was doing her due diligence checking for food.

May 25, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 292818506, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] If you're familiar with Duke Farms, I believe this is the bridge that separates Great Falls and Wood Duck Lakes.

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