The adult male is glossy black with bright red and yellow shoulder patches, often seen perched high atop marsh vegetation or on telephone wires. Females are brown and streaked overall, breast is paler with dark streaks, and a buff or orangish throat. Their bills are slender, conical and sharply pointed.

Red-winged Blackbirds typically spend the breading season in marshes, wetlands and meadows near water, feeding on seeds and insects. In fall and winter, they gather in large flocks to feed on grains with other blackbird species.

A cup-shaped nest is made of grass or reeds and attached to cattails or reeds or built in a shrub near water.

Feeders should accommodate a smooth food-flow. Look for this feature when purchasing a new feeder. Some products have small spaces making it difficult for larger chunks to move freely.

Breeds throughout the United States and Canada. Winters across the United States, north to British Columbia, and south to Mexico and Central America