Red-winged Blackbird

Thursday, May 31, 2018, Malheur NWR HQ, Harney County, Oregon

Possible "Bicolored" subspecies, Agelaius phoeniceus mailliardorum, endemic to central California.  Photos / Owen Schmidt with Canon EOS 1Dx II and Canon EF 600L II.  

More than 20 subspecies of Red-winged Blackbirds are described.  There is "substantial individual variation" within each subspecies "probably the result of frequent mixing," according to Pyle (Identification Guide to North American Birds, Part I, p. 627).  "Bicolored" Red-wing females show a darker belly like a Tricolored Blackbird but with obviously browner tones and a thicker bill.  The peachy or buff tones to the throat help to distinguish this from a Tricolored.  Bicoloreds show a "slightly more notched tail" than Tricoloreds.  Jaramillo and Burke, New World Blackbirds, p. 266.  Bird did not vocalize.

There appears to be "minimal" distance between the longest primary (P8) and the next longest (P7), which is consistent for Bicolored Blackbird but for a Tricolored Blackbird this difference would be "noticeable."   National Geographic Complete Birds of North America, p. 610.  The outermost primary (P9) is shorter and is largely not visible in the photo below.