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Published in

Ottawa Field Naturalists Club, Canadian Field-Naturalist, 1(136), p. 1-4, 2022

DOI: 10.22621/cfn.v136i1.2877

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A highly anomalous Red-winged Blackbird (<i>Agelaius phoeniceus</i>) song

Journal article published in 2022 by Brandon Edwards, Allison Binley, Willow English, Emma Hudgins ORCID, Samuel Snow
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) is a highly vocal species with a repertoire of similar, yet acoustically distinct songs. These songs may be altered drastically if, as a nestling, the male goes deaf or becomes acoustically isolated. In deaf Red-winged Blackbirds, these dramatic song alterations may present as songs bearing slight resemblance to the introductory phrase of their normal song. Here, we present a Red-winged Blackbird song observed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that is far outside any normal variation in Red-winged Blackbird songs. Given the individual’s age and the consistency of the anomalous song, it is possible that this is a deaf bird.