Phil Chadwick's Art: #3009 "Spring Song"

#3009 "Spring Song"
11 X 14 (inches).
Started at 9:30 am Friday, March 13th, 2026

This is the next in the singing bird series, thanks to my friend John Verburg. John provides a tremendous source of inspiration that encourages me to paint within the Singleton Studio when conditions outside are not conducive to plein air. The accompanying water vapour image explains why I was painting inside the Studio. The snow and warm conveyor belt was centred over eastern Lake Ontario and Singleton.

I generally start with the eyes and the beak when attempting to capture the essence of a bird. These first strokes on the singing Red-winged Blackbird made it come alive. It was a very good start, and I was determined not to mess it up. Sometimes in the Studio with an overabundance of time and oils, one can kill the subject with a thousand strokes. I just added a bit of colour to the eye after those first strokes. The beak needed some work.

The Red-winged Blackbird is one of the most abundant birds across North America. Glossy-black males have scarlet-and-yellow shoulder patches that they can puff up or hide depending on how confident they feel. Females are a subdued, streaky brown, almost like a large, dark sparrow. Their early and tumbling song are happy indications of the return of spring. They typically arrive back at Singleton in the first week of March, but sometimes as early as Valentine's Day. They are polygynous, with males often mating with multiple females.

Their trademark vocalization, a loud conk-la-REE! that culminates in an intimidating trill, is often their first line of defence. Researchers have found that non-singing birds are more likely to have their territory encroached upon by rivals. Males will typically combine the song with a forward lean and tail feathers spread out.

Male Red-winged Blackbirds do everything they can to get noticed, sitting on high perches and belting out their song all day long. Females stay lower, skulking through vegetation for food and quietly weaving together their remarkable nests. In winter Red-winged Blackbirds gather in huge flocks to eat grains with other blackbird species and starlings. They do not spend their winters at Singleton yet but that day is coming with climate change.

Females arrive up to a month later to assess who's claimed the best habitat. Red-winged Blackbirds are opportunistic foragers with varied diets, but they won't eat just anything. Experiments have shown that, if a companion eats something that makes them sick, the birds avoid that food even without having tasted it themselves.

Apparentrly Red-winged Blackbirds can understand the vocalizations of other birds. When researchers played a warning call used by Yellow Warblers to signal that the parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird was in the area, Red-wings reacted and mounted their own defence. They may even have a nuanced understanding of the other birds' sounds, because Red-wings in the study didn't respond to other, less threatening calls.

The archrival of the Red-winged Blackbird is the Marsh Wren. The wren will puncture Red-wing eggs and kill nestlings. In response, Red-wings of both sexes are proactively aggressive against the wrens, and females will "clump" their nests to cooperatively defend their young from enemy incursions.

Red-winged Blackbirds have long been valued in Indigenous cultures as courageous protectors and signs of an impending, abundant spring. According to some First Nations' stories, the species got its red wings through a heroic deed. Another legend of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes includes a tale in which a spiteful person tries to "burn up the world," but a blackbird shouts to raise the alarm. The evil person responded by lobbing a shell that cuts the bird on its wings, leaving marks of blood that remain recognizable to this day. We need a lot more Red-winged Blackbirds around!

Here are just a few from my "singing bird" collection, based largely on the photography of my friend John Verburg.

I do not know the exact number, but there must be 75 or more paintings of birds in my portfolio.... and counting... The following is why I devote so much effort to our feathered friends in particular and nature in general.

Since 1970, North America has lost nearly 3 billion birds, representing a 29% decline in total avian population. This widespread decline affects even common species, with grassland birds dropping by 67% and over 90% of losses originating from families like sparrows and warblers. Major causes include habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change - basically, just humans being humans.