How to identify it:  Black bird with a red and yellow patch on the wing

This is a wetlands bird, often found in association with cattails but also other kinds of wetlands, wet fields, and ditches.  Male birds begin setting up territories with its distinctive, Oak-a-lee call as early as February.  Eggs are laid in April in a grass nest close to the ground, often just above the water. Young birds can be found in May skulking about in the shoreline brush. Red wings are fearless protectors of the nest and will chase and dive upon any intruder, no matter how large.  It is common to see them chasing after the much larger red-tail hawks in spring. Female blackbirds are brown and heavily striped and look like large sparrows.  A male will usually have multiple females and nests within his territory and adjacent males often sneak into other males territories to mate with the females.  In winter blackbirds gather in large roosting flocks of up to several hundred birds. The largest part of the diet of this bird are seeds, and they can be found in fields and agricultural areas foraging on the ground.  During summer months they feed on insects.

How to Identify it:  Shiny black bird, with purple or greenish sheen, with a gold eye.

This is a bird of fields and open areas, often in parking lots in urban areas. They tend to stick together in small groups even during breeding season. They eat a wide variety of foods, seeds, berries, insects, french fries and other human discards.  In parking areas they can sometimes be seen foraging in the grills of parked cars for the insects.  They nest in April and May, and sometimes several birds nest close together creating cup nests of grass and hair held together with mud which are placed in small trees, shrubs or on the ground.  They form roosting  flocks in winter often joining redwing blackbirds and starlings.

How to Identify it: Shiny black bird with purple to greenish sheen and dull brown head.

This is a bird of the prairies which has adapted to a wide variety of habitats and can be found most anywhere other than dark conifer forests.  The females do not construct nests, but lay their eggs in the nests of other, usually smaller birds such as warblers, leaving the host to raise their young. The female cowbird tends to specialize in hosts, choosing the same kind of bird for each separate egg, although some are opportunistic and lay eggs where  they find the chance.  The eggs hatch earlier than the host and the young cowbirds grow faster than the unfortunate nestlings and the cowbird usually either starves or ejects the other young from the nest.  In June sometimes you will see a large cowbird juvenile following a tiny sparrow begging for food.

How to Identify it:  Black bird with purple greenish sheen, numerous white spots and bright yellow bill.

About 60 of these birds were released into Central Park in New York in  1890 by a group who wanted to bring to American all the birds found in Shakespeare's work.  This non-native species now numbers in the millions and is found throughout North America, congregating in huge numbers in agricultural and urban areas.  Starlings are cavity nesters and readily make nests in buildings, utility poles and other man made objects.  They have been found to compete with native cavity nesters such as sap suckers leading to the decline of other species.  They begin nesting early in March and often have two broods. Starlings eat a wide variety of insects, fruits and  seeds, usually foraging on the ground.  They often can be seen on lawns, where they probe the grass to eat the larval stage of the European crane fly a common lawn pest.  During winter they form huge flocks and can be a problem around stored grains.