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Ronni and I watched this male Red-winged Blackbird for some time this morning at Andrew Haydon Park. He and his mate were quite active ferrying food back and forth to their nest of babies (see next image), who anxiously awaited each food delivery. Although the description below suggests that these birds can be aggressive during breeding season, this little fellow was not overly bothered by the presence of Ronni and I. Perhaps because Ronni - my small chihuahua - was completely disinterested in birds and their babies, I was simply sitting close by and watching, and lastly - and likely most importantly - they nested close to a walking path in a popular park in Ottawa's west end.

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"One of the most abundant birds across North America, and one of the most boldly colored, the Red-winged Blackbird is a familiar sight atop cattails, along soggy roadsides, and on telephone wires. Glossy-black males have scarlet-and-yellow shoulder patches they can puff up or hide depending on how confident they feel. Females are a subdued, streaky brown, almost like a large, dark sparrow. Their early and tumbling song are happy indications of the return of spring.

The Red-winged Blackbird is a highly polygynous species, meaning males have many female mates – up to 15 in some cases. In some populations 90 percent of territorial males have more than one female nesting on their territories. But all is not as it seems: one-quarter to one-half of nestlings turn out to have been sired by someone other than the territorial male.

Male Red-winged Blackbirds fiercely defend their territories during the breeding season, spending more than a quarter of daylight hours in territory defense. He chases other males out of the territory and attacks nest predators, sometimes going after much larger animals, including horses and people."