Singing blackbird in February

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Singing blackbird in February

February 11, 2013 by Mike Powell

This past weekend I had a chance to observe the singing techniques of a newly arrived Red-winged Blackbird in my local marshland park.

I was curious to watch the blackbird as he was singing and see if I could determine how he is able to achieve such amazing volume and duration in his calls. As a singer, I have been taught to concentrate on breathing from my diaphragm when I am singing, which fills up the lungs more completely than the shallow chest breathing that most people do. In practice, what this means is that you throw out your abdomen to allow more air in and then gently squeeze with the abdominal muscles to slowly expel the air.

It looks to me that the blackbird uses similar singing techniques. I could actually see his abdomen expand as he was getting ready to sing and he engaged his entire body when he was singing.

I have some images of blackbirds simply sitting on cattails from this weekend, but I thought it would be more interesting to share a couple of the ones in which the blackbird is singing.

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter | Tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, blackbird, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, cattails, Huntley Meadows Park, red-winged blackbird | 6 Comments

6 Responses

on February 11, 2013 at 10:23 am | Reply Sue

Cool observations, Mike. Did you know that birds have 9 air sacs in addition to lungs through which air moves during inhale and exhale cycle? Air entering the abdominal sacs (where you saw expansion) actually wont be expelled until the next cycle. It’s air from the anterior sacs under the shoulders of the bird that is being expelled during the call. Nerdy science stuff…sorry, I couldn’t resist.
- on February 11, 2013 at 2:01 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Wow. I clearly need lessons on bird anatomy (but definitely of the type where I don’t have to cut anything open–I did not really enjoy frog dissection when I was in school).
on February 12, 2013 at 1:59 am | Reply lylekrahn

So are you planning a duet in the future?
on February 12, 2013 at 6:31 am | Reply New Hampshire Gardener

I can’t wait to hear them here!
on February 12, 2013 at 7:25 am | Reply chiefmadapple

What I can’t believe is that you know all the birds in your marshland so well that you know this particular one is “newly arrived”. How wonderful is that!
- on February 12, 2013 at 7:29 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Well, I can’t say that I know them all that well, but I tend to visit the marsh several times a week and I haven’t seen a single blackbird in a number of months. Perhaps he has been in hiding, but normally they are so loud and obvious that it’s easy to tell when they are around. We seem to be on migration routes here in Northern Virginia, so it seems we always have birds coming and going (and occasionally staying).