GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in 
tags: Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, photographed at Shoveler Pond, Anahuac Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 26 February 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/750s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
[Along] With House Sparrow, this is the favorite species of every Ornithology TA when it comes time to administer the semester's field practicum. And it's a bird that vexes the beginner no end, while it comes easily to birders with even a little experience.
Let's look at habitat. The bird appears to be perched on a large, robust grass, of the sort one might expect in a marshy edge or a wet ditch. Bells ringing yet? Its streaky plumage might suggest an emberizid sparrow, but in reality there are no emberizids this densely and darkly streaked and striped. The strong legs and feet and the spike-like bill point us in the right direction: this is an icterid, a New World blackbird.
From there it's easy. The moderately long tail with scalloped undertail coverts, the rusty tone of the wing with the clear white tips on the median coverts, the heavily streaked underparts, and the hint of pink at the front of the long, clear supercilium make this a Red-winged Blackbird.
What about Tricolored? A bird of that species in the analogous plumage would show a solidly dark belly contrasting with the paler streaked breast. And it wouldn't be in Texas, either, though I confess that that's the easy way out of an identification problem that can at times be more challenging than this classically well-marked red-wing makes it look.
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Comments
LBJ.
field marks: little, brown.
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | November 1, 2008 11:25 AM
Female red-winged blackbird. The beak is too long for a sparrow. Though it took me a long time when I was first seeing this bird as a 12-year-old to figure that out. "Grandma, why are those sparrows always hanging around with the red-winged blackbirds at your feeder?"
Posted by: John Callender | November 1, 2008 12:09 PM
I'm with Sven on this one.
Posted by: Bob O'H | November 1, 2008 3:38 PM
Certainly a blackbird, probably a female - but the white streak on the wing suggests the possibility of being a young male. The feathers have enough gray to make Tricolored Blackbird a possibility.
Posted by: Hilary | November 1, 2008 4:44 PM
Female red-winged blackbird, for certain. Icterid bill rather than a sparrow bill, and a hint of yellow in the lores.
This bird always causes consternation for ornithology students during a field practical exam!
Posted by: Albatrossity | November 1, 2008 5:36 PM
I agree - female redwing. Sitting on the canegrass like that is another good clue - they love the wetlands.
Posted by: The Ridger | November 1, 2008 5:46 PM