May Biodiversity Duo of the Month: Red-Winged Blackbird and Cattail

The Biodiversity of SUNY New Paltz project’s May 2025 Duo of the Month are the red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) and the cattail (Typha latifolia).     

Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) have a distinctively loud, metallic call that can often be heard in springtime, especially near the wetlands where they often nest. These birds are sexually dimorphic, meaning that the male and female birds look quite different from each other. While males are jet black with dramatic red and yellow shoulder patches called epaulets, female red-winged blackbirds are streaky brown with a tan stripe above each eye.  

The red-winged blackbirds in New York generally migrate south for the winter. Upon their return, male red-winged blackbirds will select and begin to defend a territory. Female birds will choose a mate based upon the quality of the territory he defends. Several females generally breed and nest within a single male’s territory – a mating system called polygyny.  

To a red-winged blackbird, the perfect place to live is in a marsh or swamp. A number of vertical plant shoots tend to grow in these wet areas, such as cattails, goldenrod, and various sedges; red-winged blackbirds tend to build their nests a few feet above the watery ground among these dense shoots. A nest built in wetlands is less accessible to many terrestrial nest predators, and building the nest a few feet above the ground provides some protection from snakes.  

Cattails (Typha latifolia) are perennial plants commonly found in wetlands throughout Eurasia and North America. Cattails are obligate wetland plants, meaning they are always found in or near water.  

Many parts of this plant were used by the native peoples of North America for food, medicine and material purposes; people these days are generally most familiar with the female inflorescence (flowering structure) of the cattail, which looks like a brown corndog. It is an amalgamation of many tiny flowers called florets and begins to produce seeds once it receives pollen from a male cattail inflorescence.  

This pollen is spread between cattail plants by the wind. Wind is also the force that disperses cattail seeds from the female inflorescence. Each seed is attached to a bit of fluff that allows the cattail plant to disperse its progeny wherever the wind may blow.  

Each spring, red winged blackbirds return to the swampy tangle of cattails near the rugby fields at the south end of campus to scout out this year’s territory. If you approach quietly, you may see or hear a male red winged blackbird perched above the thickets, defending his turf. 

To learn more about the fascinating biodiversity on campus visit our Biodiversity of SUNY New Paltz catalogue on iNaturalist.org. You can contribute to this project by adding your own photo observations of campus creatures!  

Interested in a campus biodiversity walking tour for your class, club or campus organization in summer or fall 2025, led by student naturalist Zoë Marks? Contact Laura Wyeth (Biology) at wyethl1@newpaltz.edu.