Red-winged Blackbirds: Decision-making and Reproductive Success

Drawing on detailed data from their 16-year study of red-winged blackbirds in the marshes of Washington’s Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, Les Beletsky and Gordon Orians analyze the information redwings use to make breeding-season decisions and the consequences these decisions have for lifetime reproductive success. Male and female redwings make different, and often independent, decisions - males focus on territory acquisition and maintenance, while females must choose when and where to nest and how much energy to invest in reproduction. Accordingly the authors have taken the approach within this text of studying the two sexes seperately. Using analyses of observational data combined with field experiments and game-theoretical models, the authors provide insights into the complex patterns of reproductive decision-making and breeding behaviour in redwings.