I agree with Bob Archer's assessment on these birds. I don't see any female
Trikes in any of the photos and as he points out the rusty bird next to the
larger blacker bird are female (smaller) and male (larger) Red-wingeds, with
the blacker male being a first-year bird.
I wrote an article on this topic a few years back.
http://www.birdfellow.com/journal/2013/04/24/a_closer_look_plumage_variation_in_red_winged_blackbirds
Dave Irons
Beaverton, OR
________________________________
From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Bob
Archer <rabican1@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, February 4, 2019 3:49 AM
To: OBOL
Subject: [obol] Re: Tricolored Blackbird Females
I go by rule that female trikes should not have any brown or rust on them ,
they have cold grays. Streaks end at belly and become solid blackish.
I would say that the birds in photo under 100 blackbirds on the Sat Feb 2
report are Red-winged. A first winter male on left and probably a female on
right.
The bird under Red-wing on same report is another first winter male Red-winged.
It has brown in plumage and is not solid black on belly.
If there is any brown on the Jackson County birds or lack solid dark belly then
I would call them Red-winged.
Bob Archer
PDX
On Sun, Feb 3, 2019 at 6:33 PM John Sullivan
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hello All,
On Friday, Barry McKenzie and I photographed several male Tricolored Blackbirds
Northeast of Eagle Point in Jackson Co. Looking at my photos later at home,
there appear to be several female trikes in the photos. Much darker gray than
nearby Red-winged females with less prominent streaking on the breast and
darker bellies. Barry got a nice comparison photo which can be seen in the
eBird report. Photos of possible female trikes are placed under Blackbird sp.
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52276411
Yesterday at the Philomath Poo Ponds in Benton County, Laura Johnson and I saw
a couple male trikes continuing at the seed patch there. I made a hasty call of
what I thought was a female trike. I showed the photo on my camera to several
birders, but I now wonder if this bird is a female Red-winged. The pinkish
throat and too much contrast in the streaking on the breast continuing onto the
belly all point to Red-winged. The photo is under Red-winged. There is also a
funky looking probable first year male Red-wing in the report here:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52310087
Any advice on Blackbird identification welcome!
Thank you and Good Birding!
John Sullivan
Springfield, OR
Sent from AOL Mobile Mail
Get the new AOL app: mail.mobile.aol.com<http://mail.mobile.aol.com>
