The Red-winged Blackbird is one of the most widespread and conspicuous songbirds in North America, and it is common across much of Arizona wherever wetlands, marshes, riparian corridors, and irrigated fields provide habitat. Males are easily recognized by their glossy black plumage highlighted by bright scarlet shoulder patches edged with yellow, which they display prominently in flight or while singing from cattails and shrubs. Females, by contrast, are streaky brown and resemble large sparrows, often remaining less visible in the reeds. In Arizona, breeding populations are concentrated in lowland marshes such as those found at Whitewater Draw, the lower Colorado River, and agricultural valleys, though migrants and wintering flocks can appear throughout the state. Highly social, Red-winged Blackbirds often gather in large mixed-species flocks during migration and winter, feeding on seeds and grains in farm fields and roosting communally in dense vegetation. Their loud, nasal konk-la-ree song is a familiar sound in desert wetlands, signaling territorial males in spring. Adaptable and abundant, the species is listed as Least Concern, yet wetland loss in Arizona makes local populations dependent on the protection of riparian habitats and managed water areas.
Female