Seeing The Beauty Of The Female Red Winged Blackbird
Red Winged Blackbird
Dufferin Marsh
I was at Dufferin Marsh in Kamloops when I really started paying attention to the female Red Winged Blackbird. Most people focus on the bright male with his red and yellow shoulder patches, but the female caught my eye that day. At first she looked simple and brown, but the longer I watched her, the more detail I saw.
Her feathers were full of fine streaks and warm tones that blended perfectly with the reeds and dry grass around the marsh. When she moved, the pattern on her body broke up her outline so well that she almost disappeared. That is when I understood why she looks the way she does. Her colours are not plain. They are built for survival.
Female Red Winged Blackbirds do most of the nest building and most of the sitting on the eggs. They hide their nests low in the cattails, and they spend long hours staying still. If they were bright like the males, predators would find them right away. Over many generations, females with better camouflage raised more young, so the brown streaked pattern became the normal look for the species. This is natural selection in action.
When the sun hit her feathers, I could see gold and copper tones that you would never notice from far away. Her pattern was not one shade of brown. It was layers of lines and colours that helped her blend into the marsh. The experts call this disruptive patterning, and it makes it harder for predators to see her shape.
I also noticed how active she was. She called out sharp notes to warn other birds and softer notes to communicate. She moved with confidence and stayed alert the whole time. Watching her made me realize she is not a background bird at all. She plays a major role in the marsh and works hard to protect her nest.
The male gets attention because he is bright, but the female shows a different kind of beauty. Her beauty comes from function, strength and survival. When you understand the biology behind her colours, you start to see how impressive she really is. That day at Dufferin Marsh changed the way I look at them. Now when I see a female Red Winged Blackbird, I see a bird that is perfectly built for the life she lives.
-Peter.