Agelaius phoeniceus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae found in most of North America and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and Guatemala, with isolated populations in western El Salvador, northwestern Honduras, and northwestern Costa Rica. It may winter as far north as Pennsylvania and British Columbia, but northern populations are generally migratory, moving south to Mexico and the Southern United States.
Claims have been made that it is the most abundant living land bird in North America, as bird-counting censuses of wintering red-winged blackbirds sometimes show that loose flocks can number in excess of a million birds per flock and the full number of breeding pairs across North and Central America may exceed 250 million in peak years. It also ranks among the best-studied wild bird species in the world. The red-winged blackbird is sexually dimorphic; the male is all black with a red shoulder and yellow wing bar, while the female is a nondescript dark brown. Seeds and insects make up the bulk of the red-winged blackbird's diet.
The red-winged blackbird... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Detroit | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Xcaret | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 4 | Akron Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Key West Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Red-winged Blackbird sighting in Boston on a given day, based on 25,557 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 14th most-seen of the 283 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and May
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Red-winged Blackbird in Boston on a given day, against about 10% in September and November–January, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-winged Blackbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 44
Of the 44 cities where we can rate Red-winged Blackbird sightings, Boston ranks 7th at about 50%. The best odds are in Chicago (United States, about 60%), Denver (United States, about 60%) and Toronto (Canada, about 60%).
Same family: Icteridae
The closest relatives of the Red-winged Blackbird that you can see in Boston (family Icteridae, New World Blackbirds and Orioles) are Common Grackle (about 50%), Baltimore Oriole (about 20%) and Brown-headed Cowbird (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-winged Blackbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Boston (25,557 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
