Youngsters
get to know the young hero and the adventures
that carry him toward manhood. As they come to know Jeremiah as a friend who would
understand their own growing pains, they look forward to each book in the
series.
Teachers
will Achieve..
Teachers will appreciate the ways
that Jeremiah Stokely novels, kits, and activities make literature
meaningful to children. Teachers can download free classroom idea
packets to hold a hand-on workshop based on each book.
Click the >Play button
to listen to the bird's song!
Red-Winged Blackbird (Agelaius
phoeniceus)
Length 9 in., wingspan 13 in., Family Emberizidae
You can see these colorful songbirds throughout the
United States, Canada, Mexico and south to Costa Rica. They live in
various habitats from marshes and brushy swamps to open fields. They often
nest in marshes or near ponds with cattails, close to water.
Like many species, the male’s plumage is more
flamboyant than the female’s. The male is jet black with bright red
shoulder patches, sometimes bordered below in yellow. The female is brown
with dark stripes on the underside. Juvenile (immature) males are similar
to females but have red shoulders.
Red-Winged Blackbirds eat grass and weed seeds,
insects including beetles, grasshoppers, and caterpillars, as well as
snails and spiders. During the cool non-breeding months, they look for
bugs in shrubs and trees and on the ground.
Males aggressively defend their nesting areas. The
male declares his area by standing on a reed, flashing his red shoulders,
and singing. He may have more than one mate. The female builds a bulky
cuplike nest of grass, reeds, and leaves, and lays three or four pale
blue-green eggs. She incubates the eggs for 10 to 12 days until they
hatch. Both parents feed the young, who first fly 11 to 14 days after
hatching.
The red-winged blackbird is a flocking bird. It
migrates, feeds, and defends itself within a group. If a hawk or heron
approaches, many blackbirds will gang up, harass the larger bird, and
drive it away from their nests and young.
The Latin agelaius
means “gregarious” because Red-Wingeds like company, and phoeniceus
simply means “red” for their shoulder patches.
