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first birds to return and announce spring with its liquid, gurgling songs that sound somewhat like konk-a-ree\ others transcribe it as ko-ka-lee.
In 1906, ornithologist William Brewster wrote of this song inexpressibly wild and pleasing.” Scold notes are a flat-sounding chack. Redwings also call with a high, plaintive whistle.
Early spring arrivals in the Virginia piedmont are all males. Females arrive as much as two weeks later and take up residence in a marsh on the border of a lake or farm pond where males have established breeding territory. A thick stand of cattails is ideal nesting habitat for redwings.
Early writers frequently mention the preferred breeding habitat of the redwing as a slough, pronounced as sloo or slew, a word not used much today. Its definition: a tidal flat or bottom-land of a river; also an inlet from a river. In shorter terms, redwings like to be near water.
Males constantly display their red shoulder patches as an announcement of territorial rights. There is much flying about and display as males determine exact boundaries and constantly patrol their perimeters. Male redwings are often polygamous and patrol a territory in which two females have built nests. He mates with both and helps feed the young of two families.
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