The beautiful male Red-winged Blackbird is all black with bright red shoulder patches. The female are a dusky brown. They love marshes, swamps, and any wet and dry meadow or pasture. One of the most common birds in the United States, it can be found in almost every state. When there is a surplus of females in the area, males can be very polygynous setting up housekeeping with several females.

Making their home in salt marshes and coastal bays, these little long-legged and noisy birds are extremely fast-moving and very difficult to photograph.