The blackbirds should be showing up any day now. I’m on the lookout. When the blackbirds are back in town it means spring is coming. Or at least the blackbirds seem to think so. I watch for them every ...

Red-winged blackbirds are one of the most widespread ... from brown-striped juvenile plumage to the black of the adult male. Visible clues include the very sharply pointed beak, pale eyebrow ...

These boldly colored migratory birds spend the colder months in the southern United States and begin returning to Michigan in ...

Monotypic. Length 9". A summer rusty blackbird is similar, but it has a more slender pointed bill. The male Brewer’s is more strongly glossy, showing blue on head and green on body. In winter ...

February’s the shortest month, and it is more than halfway over. There are already signs that some birds are ready to embrace the shift in seasons as winter advances, albeit in fits and starts ...

Signs of the coming of spring are appearing everywhere. So far, I’ve seen robins, red-winged blackbirds, killdeers, herring gulls, grackles, great-blue herons, geese, chipmunks, geese and others.

Males show black median coverts, so the red epaulet lacks a yellow border. The male tri­colored blackbird has a thinner, more pointed bill, a white epaulet border, colder gray-buff upperpart ...