Laura Erickson's For the Birds

This specialty of California’s Central Valley is declining dangerously, but lucky birders can still spot large collections because these gregarious birds associate in flocks. They have a buzzier, almost catlike song, with more pointed wings and beak, than Red-winged Blackbirds. And as if these two species wanted to assist in our identifications, many of the Red-wings found near Tricolored Blackbirds are “bicolored blackbirds”—Red-wings missing all or most of the buffy stripe edging the red epaulet.