The male Red-Winged Blackbirds are arriving, first as broad-winged, high-flying silhouettes scouting for summer territory and then as epaulette-flaring, screaming sentries, once they have laid claim to a territory.
The smaller, sparrow-like brown females will arrive once the homestead wars are more settled. Here are a couple of last summer's females and a male in flight:
Then, the Red Wings will settle into one of the more polygamous bird life styles – a single male may keep up to 15 females in 15 different nests in his territory, each of which he fiercely defends as his own. (Brooklin, Maine)