They're back – the harbingers of spring! No, not robins. Red-winged blackbirds. On a snowy day at the end of February, I saw two males perched in a small marsh lifting their heads up in the air to scream, “Onkalee.” That three-syllable song is the mating call of the red-winged blackbird – and this is one of the earliest migratory species to arrive in Illinois, including Lake County.

 

A colorful bird that lights up the dingy look of bent-over cattails, the red-winged blackbird typifies its name. The jet-black, robin-sized bird has what are called red epaulets – patches on the wing – and if you look through binoculars you can also see a smaller patch of yellow on the red.

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