Anybody remember the song, “The Boys Are Back in Town,” by the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy? As I recall, it came out in the mid-1970s and described the actions of a gang of tough guys that were, well, back in town, presumably after a prolonged absence.
Guess what? The boys are back in town here, too. I got a call about them the other day. Sure enough, now they’re everywhere. The male red-winged blackbirds have returned from their southern wintering grounds.
Now, I doubt that the Thin Lizzy lyricist had redwings in mind (do they even have redwings in Ireland?) when he penned the line about, “Them wild-eyed boys that’d been away…” But still, as I watched a male redwing sit on his prominent perch—right next to the Foxcycle sculpture by the river in St. Charles—I couldn’t help but think how, just like the song says, these guys “Haven’t changed, haven’t much to say, but man I still think them cats are crazy.”
What they lack in linguistic diversity, male redwings certainly make up for in reiteration. Time and again the Foxcycle fellow belted out his territorial “”O-ka-ree!” (or, as I like to think of it, “Look-at-me!”) song. With an arch of his wings, he also flashed his namesake red shoulder patches at me, just in case I was thinking of horning in on his turf. As I watched his animated display, I listened to the songs of other, equally resolute males ring out from upstream as well as across the river. I counted five different birds singing in the short distance between the Foxcycle and the concession stand at River View MiniGolf at Pottawatomie Park.
Of course, as they are with most mating rituals, hormones are at the root of this determined behavior. Males of many different bird species are right now doing the same thing, staking out breeding territories. But for red-winged blackbirds, the stakes are just a little higher. This species is one of several that are polygynous—that is, one male mates with several females. With each male claiming an average of three females for his own, these guys are going to have their hands full. No wonder they’re “wild-eyed.”
The Thin Lizzy song goes on to state that “It won’t be long ’til summer comes, now that the boys are here again.” And, mark my words, that’s when redwings will really start making headlines.
Each year, around the end of June, people start getting “attacked” by male redwings. All these courageous chaps are trying to do is defend their ladies, their nests, and their offspring, which are tucked away under the cover of cattails, dense hedges or other similarly impenetrable foliage. But inevitably someone will draw a parallel between a defensive redwing and Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” and suddenly the redwings’ good name is mud.
Granted, it can be a little disconcerting to have a dark missile of black and red feathers come hurtling toward you from the bushes. But given that the birds weigh all of only 2 oz.—as much as a half a stick of butter—the attacks rarely cause harm. And the behavior lasts only until the young leave the nest—a period of maybe three weeks. Still, it’s just sensational enough to get a few inches of column space in the newspaper, or 30 seconds of TV news time, every year.
Last summer, I got a call from someone who wanted to know whether redwings were becoming more aggressive. Digging around, I couldn’t find any research proving that was the case, but I did see references to the fact that urban and suburban male redwings attack more frequently than their rural counterparts. Does that mean they’re more aggressive? Probably not. They’ve just got more intruders—more of us—to worry about.
Picture yourself in your car, first sitting in rush hour traffic, then again driving down a peaceful country lane. In which scenario are you more likely to have your space encroached on? Where might you be more likely to honk your horn or gesture emphatically? It’s the same for male redwings.
Female red-winged blackbirds, however, are another story. For one thing, they don’t have red on their wings. For another, they aren’t even black. Streaky brown, with a hint of yellow, the red-winged gals look like giant sparrows and are all about blending in. They show up a couple of weeks after the males, and soon busy themselves with nest building, egg laying and chick rearing. They’ll defend their nest from nearby threats, but leave the heavy-duty behavior to their mates.
Next time you’re near water or a wetland, and you hear the call of a proud male redwing, take a cue from the Thin Lizzy song and “Spread the word around. The boys are back in town.” And keep an eye out for the girls—red-winged girls, that is. They’ll be here any day now.
Pam Otto is the manager of nature programs and interpretive services for the St. Charles Park District. She can be reached at potto@stcparks.org or 630-513-4346.