The composition of these images couldn’t get much simpler, but I think that they help to highlight the beauty of this female Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) that I spotted last week at Huntley Meadows Park. Normally female blackbirds forage down low inside the vegetation, so it was a real treat to find one perched out in the open.
Female Red-winged Blackbirds are special to me because they were one of my first subjects when I started to photograph birds. I remember well my surprise when I learned that this bird was a red-winged blackbird, given that it clearly was not black nor did it have red wings. I’ve learned a lot about bird identification since that time and birds have become one of my favorite subjects.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I wouldn’t expect to see her perched anywhere but on a cattail stalk. Perfect photos that show the bird’s behavior perfectly.
Thanks, Allen. For me, the males are always very visible, perching on the highest available vegetation. The females, however, seem to remain much more out of sight, for example at the base of the cattails.