The Red-winged Blackbird
The Red-winged Blackbird

Author: Les Beletsky

Publisher:

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13:

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The Red-winged Blackbird is not only one of North America's commonest birds, but also its best studied. It exemplifies the contribution that in-depth species studies can make to many of the central issues in behavioral ecology. In this book, Les Beletsky calls on 20 years experience of redwings to provide an up-to-date, comprehensive summary of all the major work done with these birds. These studies on the redwings' polygynous breeding system, strong territoriality, complex vocal communications, and broad distribution shed light on many themes of key interest to behaviorists and ecologists interested in the evolution of mate choice and species adaptations to habitats which vary in character in different parts of their range. An extra dimension is added in the consideration of redwings as pests, a widespread and often serious problem in crops of rice and corn. This book is written in an easy style, and will serve as an introduction, to both student and layperson, to redwings and what they can teach us of behavioral ecology. The Red-winged Blackbird provides the research worker with a balanced summary and comprehensive bibliography of one of ornithology's widest and deepest studies. Key Features * Covers perhaps the most studied bird in North America * Presents model species for studies in mating systems, habitat selection, vocal communication, and territorial behavior * Includes a comprehensive bibliography * Presented in an accessible style, ideal for student use

Polygyny and Sexual Selection in Red-Winged Blackbirds
Polygyny and Sexual Selection in Red-Winged Blackbirds

Author: William A. Searcy

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-07-14

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 1400863937

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The purpose of this book is to explain why red-winged blackbirds are polygynous and to describe the effects of this mating system on other aspects of the biology of the species. Polygyny is a mating system in which individual males form long-term mating relationships with more than one female at a time. The authors show that females choose to mate polygynously because there is little cost to sharing male parental care in this species, and because females gain protection against nest predation by nesting near other females. Polygyny has the effect of intensifying sexual selection on males by increasing the variance in mating success among males. For females, polygyny means that they will often share a male's territory with other females during the breeding season and will thus be forced to adapt to frequent female-female interactions. This work reviews the results of many studies by other researchers, as well as presenting the authors' own results. Studies of red-winged blackbirds have ranged from long-term investigations of reproductive success and demography, to research on genetic parentage based on modern molecular methods, to a variety of experimental manipulations of ecological circumstances and behavior. Since the red-winged blackbird is one of the best studied species of any taxa in terms of its behavior and ecology, the authors have a particularly extensive body of results on which to base their conclusions. Originally published in 1995. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Ecology and Management of Blackbirds (Icteridae) in North America
Ecology and Management of Blackbirds (Icteridae) in North America

Author: George M. Linz

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2017-09-19

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 135164355X

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Shortlisted for the 2018 TWS Wildlife Publication Awards in the edited book category The various species of new world blackbirds, often intermingled in large foraging flocks and nighttime roosts, collectively number in the hundreds of millions and are a dominant component of the natural and agricultural avifauna in North America today. Because of their abundance, conspicuous flocking behavior, and feeding habits, these species have often been in conflict with human endeavors. The pioneering publications on blackbirds were by F. E. L. Beal in 1900 and A. A. Allen in 1914. These seminal treatises laid the foundation for more than 1,000 descriptive and experimental studies on the life histories of blackbirds as well as their ecology and management in relation to agricultural damage and other conflicts such as caused by large winter roosting congregations. The wealth of information generated in over a century of research is found in disparate outlets that include government reports, conference proceedings, peer-reviewed journals, monographs, and books. For the first time, Ecology and Management of Blackbirds (Icteridae) in North America summarizes and synthesizes this vast body of information on the biology and life histories of blackbirds and their conflicts with humans into a single volume for researchers, wildlife managers, agriculturists, disease biologists, ornithologists, policy makers, and the public. The book reviews the life histories of red-winged blackbirds, yellow-headed blackbirds, common grackles, and brown-headed cowbirds. It provides in-depth coverage of the functional roles of blackbirds in natural and agricultural ecosystems. In doing so, this authoritative reference promotes the development of improved science-based, integrated management strategies to address conflicts when resolutions are needed.

The Call of the Red-Winged Blackbird
The Call of the Red-Winged Blackbird

Author: Tim Bowling

Publisher:

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 9781989496428

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"Nearly sixty years of life, with all of its diversities and social pleasure, its joys and sorrows, successes and failures, a whole changing theatre cast of characters, some still loved and on the stage, others long since slipped into the darkened wings, and I remain most entranced by the simple glories of a fruit tree and a songbird. Why should it be so?" In this lush collection of essays Tim Bowling picks up the common questions, and beauties, of life and examines them closely. From questions of love and money, to the search for solitude in a clamouring world, to poetry and the place of art today, Bowling writes beautifully and thoughtfully on what it means to be alive now. And in the end, we come back to the moon, the trees, the salmon that swim to the sea and the call of the red-winged blackbird, which his mother imitated to call him inside at night, as a child.

Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder
Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder

Author: Julia Zarankin

Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre

Published: 2020-09-12

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1771622490

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When Julia Zarankin saw her first red-winged blackbird at the age of thirty-five, she didn’t expect that it would change her life. Recently divorced and auditioning hobbies during a stressful career transition, she stumbled on birdwatching, initially out of curiosity for the strange breed of humans who wear multi-pocketed vests, carry spotting scopes and discuss the finer points of optics with disturbing fervour. What she never could have predicted was that she would become one of them. Not only would she come to identify proudly as a birder, but birding would ultimately lead her to find love, uncover a new language and lay down her roots. Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder tells the story of finding meaning in midlife through birds. The book follows the peregrinations of a narrator who learns more from birds than she ever anticipated, as she begins to realize that she herself is a migratory species: born in the former Soviet Union, growing up in Vancouver and Toronto, studying and working in the United States and living in Paris. Coming from a Russian immigrant family of concert pianists who believed that the outdoors were for “other people,” Julia Zarankin recounts the challenges and joys of unexpectedly discovering one’s wild side and finding one’s tribe in the unlikeliest of places. Zarankin’s thoughtful and witty anecdotes illuminate the joyful experience of a new discovery and the surprising pleasure to be found while standing still on the edge of a lake at six a.m. In addition to confirmed nature enthusiasts, this book will appeal to readers of literary memoir, offering keen insight on what it takes to find one’s place in the world.

Nature Notes from Maine: Puffins, Black Bears, Raccoons & More
Nature Notes from Maine: Puffins, Black Bears, Raccoons & More

Author: Ed Robinson

Publisher:

Published: 2021-06

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781630850081

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A collection of stories and images to celebrate the natural world around us. This book makes a great gift for anyone who loves Maine wildlife. It was written by Harpswell's Ed Robinson. All proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit the work of Harpswell Heritage Land Trust to preserve special places in Harpswell and educate and engage our community.

The Red-Winged Blackbird
The Red-Winged Blackbird

Author: Bob Reed

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2013-09-02

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9781478373803

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"The whole world operates on coal, boys. Men will kill for it. That makes a miner pretty damn powerful." Powerful, yes. But in the viperous worlds of mining, union organizing and warfare, digging coal can make a miner a sitting duck, too. Alan Tanner reckons he's just another coalass trying to make a living, care for his family and have a little fun. Trouble is, death stalks him. His mine explodes and the stench of bloody carcasses lingers. The UMW secretly organizes and risks a strike. Brutal guards and soldiers threaten. Gunrunning flourishes. Hostilities rupture into battle. After fending off machine gun and rifle fire all day, the young miner watches helplessly as the tent homes of a thousand strikers erupt in flame. The "New York Times" calls it "the Ludlow Massacre." Screams of widows and orphans haunt him. It's time for vengeance. The subsequent war that consumes Tanner becomes the bloodiest, costliest labor dispute in American history. With "The Red-Winged Blackbird," the long-overlooked Colorado coal strike of 1913-14 springs to life with an urgency that can only come from one who lived it. By turns humorous and heart-rending, Tanner's story chronicles the depths men will plummet for hunks of coal and the right to dig them.

National Geographic Bird Coloration
National Geographic Bird Coloration

Author: Geoffrey Edward Hill

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1426205716

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Why is a cardinal red and a bluebird blue? How has color camouflage evolved? These are just a few of the fascinating questions explored in this work on coloration and plumage, and their key role in avian life. 200 full-color photos.

New World Blackbirds
New World Blackbirds

Author: Alvaro Jaramillo

Publisher: Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 9780691006802

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New World Blackbirds is a comprehensive guide to the 103 members of the family Icteridae, also known as the icterids or troupials. The icterids are a diverse family, ranging throughout the Americas from Alaska to the Caribbean and south to Cape Horn. Despite the name "blackbird," the group contains such highly colored birds as the orioles. It includes common and intensively studied species--the Red-winged Blackbird and the Brown-headed Cowbird, for example--and such rare and obscure birds as the Colombian Mountain-Grackle and the Montserrat and Martinique Orioles. Two species in the family, the Selva Cacique and the Pale-eyed Blackbird, were not described at all until as recently as the 1960s and 1970s. The thirty-nine highly detailed plates in this book depict all the species and many subspecies and age types never illustrated before. The book also contains over one hundred color range maps as well as black-and-white illustrations to aid identification. The extensive text summarizes the characteristics and natural history of each species, giving details on behavior, nesting, geographic variation, distribution, vocalizations, and in-depth plumage descriptions for all age types. Clearly written and exhaustively researched, this book will be the standard reference work for this major family of birds.

Song of the Redwing
Song of the Redwing

Author: Tish McFadden

Publisher:

Published: 2021-03-25

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 9781684336876

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Through the eyes of a Red-winged blackbird, children explore a very real yet dreamlike landscape teeming with texture, color, and light - slip on your rubber boots, let's visit a marsh!