California’s diverse landscapes harbor some of North America’s most fascinating black birds, from the ubiquitous American Crow to the critically endangered Tricolored Blackbird.
Whether you’re scanning your backyard feeder or exploring the Central Valley wetlands, these 10 species represent the essential black birds every California birder should master.
With recent conservation successes like the Tricolored Blackbird population recovery showing promise, understanding these species becomes even more rewarding.
From the glossy European Starlings that murmurate across urban skies to the secretive Rusty Blackbirds passing through during migration, each species offers unique identification challenges and behavioral insights that will enhance your birding adventures throughout the Golden State.
American Crow
The American Crow stands as California’s most recognizable black bird, appearing in urban parks, agricultural fields, and coastal areas across the state. These intelligent corvids display entirely black plumage with a slight blue-purple iridescence in bright sunlight, measuring 17-21 inches with a robust, straight bill.
Key Insight: American Crows demonstrate remarkable problem-solving abilities and can recognize individual human faces, remembering them for years.
Where to Find Them: Look for American Crows in virtually any California habitat, from Los Angeles suburbs to Central Valley farmlands. They’re particularly common around universities and parks where food sources are abundant. These adaptable birds thrive in both urban and rural settings, often gathering in large communal roosts during winter months.
Identification Tips: Watch for their distinctive walking gait on the ground and their broad, fan-shaped tail in flight. Their calls include the classic “caw-caw” but also softer rattles and clicks used in family communication.
Common Raven
Distinguished from crows by their larger size and wedge-shaped tail, Common Ravens inhabit California’s mountains, deserts, and wild spaces. These remarkable birds measure 24-27 inches with a thick, curved bill and shaggy throat feathers that create a distinctive “beard” appearance.
Ravens perform spectacular aerial acrobatics, including barrel rolls and dives, particularly during courtship displays. Their calls range from the classic deep “kronk” to over 30 different vocalizations, including mimicking other bird species.
Pro Tip: Ravens soar like hawks, holding their wings flat, while crows flap more consistently during flight.
In California, seek Common Ravens in the Sierra Nevada, coastal mountains, and Mojave Desert regions. They avoid heavily urbanized areas, preferring wild landscapes where they can nest on cliff faces and tall trees.
Brewer’s Blackbird
The Brewer’s Blackbird represents one of California’s most successful native blackbirds, adapting exceptionally well to human-modified landscapes. Males display glossy black plumage with bright yellow eyes and an iridescent purple-green sheen on their heads and necks. Females appear brown with dark eyes and subtle streaking.
These medium-sized blackbirds (8-10 inches) frequent parking lots, golf courses, and agricultural areas throughout California. During breeding season, males perform elaborate displays, puffing their feathers and singing metallic songs from prominent perches.
Important Note: Brewer’s Blackbirds often form mixed flocks with other blackbird species during winter, creating identification challenges for beginning birders.
Behavioral Distinctions: Unlike their relatives, Brewer’s Blackbirds walk rather than hop on the ground, systematically searching for insects and seeds. They’re particularly attracted to areas disturbed by agriculture or construction, where insects are easily accessible.
Their adaptability has allowed populations to remain stable while other blackbird species decline, making them reliable subjects for birding practice throughout California’s diverse habitats.
Red-winged Blackbird
Perhaps California’s most iconic marsh bird, the Red-winged Blackbird claims territory with unmistakable red and yellow shoulder patches that flash during territorial displays. Males are entirely black with these bright epaulets, while females display brown streaking and are often mistaken for large sparrows.
These birds inhabit wetlands, marshes, and even roadside ditches throughout California, from San Francisco Bay’s salt marshes to the Central Valley’s agricultural canals. During breeding season, males perch prominently on cattails and fence posts, singing their distinctive “oak-a-lee” songs.
Comparison Table: Red-winged vs. Tricolored Blackbirds
| Feature | Red-winged Blackbird | Tricolored Blackbird |
|---|---|---|
| Shoulder patch | Red with yellow border | Red with white border |
| Bill shape | Pointed, moderate | Thicker, more pointed |
| Habitat preference | Diverse wetlands | Agricultural fields, large colonies |
| Population status | Stable | State endangered |
| Colony size | Small territories | Massive colonies (up to 50,000 birds) |
Female Red-winged Blackbirds often show hints of red on their shoulders and can be distinguished from other brown birds by their sharply pointed bills and streaked underparts.
Where to Find Them: Any California wetland provides opportunities to observe Red-winged Blackbirds, but San Francisco Bay Area preserves and Central Valley wildlife refuges offer particularly reliable viewing.
Tricolored Blackbird
California’s most endangered blackbird species, the Tricolored Blackbird (Agelaius tricolor) represents both a conservation challenge and success story.
Males appear similar to Red-winged Blackbirds but display distinctive white borders below their red shoulder patches, earning their “tricolored” name from the black, red, and white pattern.
Conservation Success: Recent collaborative efforts between farmers and conservationists have increased San Joaquin Valley breeding populations from 75,000 in 2015 to an estimated 209,000 in 2024, demonstrating the power of targeted conservation partnerships.
These highly social birds form some of North America’s largest passerine colonies, historically numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Unlike Red-winged Blackbirds, Tricolored Blackbirds prefer nesting in dense agricultural fields, particularly silage crops, which created conflicts with farming schedules.
Key Insight: Tricolored Blackbirds routinely fly up to three miles from nesting colonies to forage, requiring vast landscapes to support their populations.
Where to Find Them: Central Valley agricultural areas provide the best opportunities for Tricolored Blackbird observation. Kern National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding farmlands offer prime habitat during breeding season.
Their buzzy, almost cat-like songs distinguish them from Red-winged Blackbirds, and their colonial nesting behavior creates spectacular wildlife viewing opportunities when colonies are active.
Brown-headed Cowbird
The Brown-headed Cowbird presents one of nature’s most fascinating reproductive strategies through brood parasitism. Males display glossy black bodies with rich brown heads that gleam in sunlight, while females appear uniformly brown with slightly paler heads.
These stocky blackbirds (6-8 inches) originally followed bison herds across grasslands, feeding on insects stirred up by grazing animals. Today, they’ve adapted to cattle ranches and suburban areas throughout California, maintaining their ancestral behavior patterns.
Common Mistake: Many birders assume cowbirds raise their own young, but females lay eggs in other species’ nests, leaving host birds to raise cowbird chicks at the expense of their own offspring.
Reproductive Strategy: Female cowbirds have been documented parasitizing over 220 different host species, from tiny kinglets to large meadowlarks. This strategy allows cowbirds to produce multiple broods per season without investing energy in nest construction or chick rearing.
Behavioral Observations: Male cowbirds perform elaborate courtship displays, puffing their feathers and bowing while producing gurgling songs. These displays can be observed in open areas where cowbirds gather to feed and socialize.
California’s cowbird populations remain stable due to their adaptability to human-modified landscapes and their efficient reproductive strategy.
Great-tailed Grackle
The Great-tailed Grackle represents a relatively recent addition to California’s avifauna, expanding northward from Mexico and establishing populations in the southern and central regions of the state. Males are impressive birds measuring 15-18 inches with extraordinarily long, keel-shaped tails and iridescent purple-black plumage.
Females appear approximately half the size of males with brown plumage and shorter tails, demonstrating extreme sexual dimorphism. Their bright yellow eyes contrast strikingly with their dark plumage in both sexes.
Pro Tip: Great-tailed Grackles often feed by forcing their bills into crevices and prying them open, a technique called “gaping” that few other birds can perform.
These highly social birds gather in large, noisy flocks, particularly around urban areas with abundant food sources. Their vocalizations include an astonishing variety of sounds, from harsh calls to surprisingly musical phrases, with some individuals capable of mimicking other bird species and even human sounds.
Range Expansion: Great-tailed Grackles have expanded their California range significantly since the 1960s, now breeding regularly in the Central Valley and southern coastal areas. This expansion reflects their adaptability to urban environments and irrigation-dependent agriculture.
Their intelligence rivals that of crows, and they’ve been observed using tools and solving complex problems to obtain food in urban environments.
European Starling
Though non-native, European Starlings have become integral to California’s bird communities since their introduction in the 1890s. These chunky, short-tailed birds (7-9 inches) display remarkable seasonal plumage changes, from glossy black with iridescent green and purple highlights in breeding season to brown-spotted winter plumage.
Important Note: Eugene Schieffelin introduced 100 European Starlings to New York’s Central Park in 1890 as part of his mission to establish all birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s works in North America.
Starlings excel at mimicry, incorporating sounds from other bird species, machinery, and human speech into their complex songs. Their ability to learn and reproduce new sounds continues throughout their lives, making them among nature’s most accomplished vocal learners.
Murmurations: One of nature’s most spectacular displays occurs when thousands of starlings form swirling, synchronized flocks called murmurations, particularly visible during winter evenings in California’s Central Valley and coastal areas.
Seasonal Changes: Summer starlings appear almost entirely black with bright yellow bills, while winter birds develop white spotting and darker bills. These seasonal transformations can confuse beginning birders trying to identify the same species across different seasons.
Starlings nest in cavities, from natural tree holes to building crevices, and their adaptability to urban environments has made them one of California’s most abundant birds.
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Male Yellow-headed Blackbirds create one of North America’s most striking plumage contrasts with bright yellow heads and chests against glossy black bodies, complemented by white wing patches visible during flight. Females display brown plumage with duller yellow coloring on their heads and chests.
These large blackbirds (8-11 inches) prefer deeper water than Red-winged Blackbirds, nesting in cattail marshes where water levels remain consistent throughout the breeding season. Their harsh, rasping songs sound almost mechanical compared to other blackbirds’ more musical calls.
Seasonal Presence: Yellow-headed Blackbirds appear in California primarily during migration and winter months, with the best viewing opportunities occurring from September through March in Central Valley refuges and coastal wetlands.
Habitat Requirements: Unlike Red-winged Blackbirds that tolerate various wetland types, Yellow-headed Blackbirds require specific marsh conditions with deep water and robust emergent vegetation, making them excellent indicators of wetland health.
Migration Patterns: These birds breed in prairie wetlands across the western interior before migrating to southwestern wintering grounds. California serves as both a migration corridor and wintering destination for populations breeding farther north.
Where to Find Them: San Francisco Bay Area wetlands and Central Valley wildlife refuges provide the most reliable Yellow-headed Blackbird viewing opportunities during winter months.
Rusty Blackbird
The Rusty Blackbird represents one of North America’s most dramatically declining songbirds, making any California sighting particularly noteworthy. During breeding season, males appear entirely black with subtle green iridescence, while winter birds of both sexes develop rusty-brown edging on their feathers that gives the species its name.
Conservation Alert: Rusty Blackbird populations have declined by over 85% since the 1960s, making them one of the fastest-declining songbirds in North America.
These medium-sized blackbirds (8-10 inches) prefer wet, forested habitats during migration and winter, seeking out wooded swamps, beaver ponds, and forested streams. Unlike other blackbirds that frequent open areas, Rusty Blackbirds maintain strong associations with wooded wetlands throughout their annual cycle.
Identification Challenges: Winter Rusty Blackbirds can be confused with female Red-winged Blackbirds, but Rusty Blackbirds show more uniform rusty coloring without the heavy streaking typical of female Red-wings.
California Occurrence: Rusty Blackbirds appear irregularly in California during fall and winter migration, with most sightings occurring in the northern Central Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills. Their unpredictable occurrence makes any sighting worth reporting to eBird for conservation monitoring.
Behavioral Distinctions: These birds frequently flip leaves and probe in shallow water while foraging, behaviors that distinguish them from other blackbirds that primarily feed on seeds and insects in open areas.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between ravens and crows in California? Ravens are significantly larger (24-27 inches vs. 17-21 inches), have wedge-shaped tails in flight, thicker bills, and prefer wild habitats. Crows have fan-shaped tails, are more social in urban areas, and have higher-pitched calls.
When is the best time to see Tricolored Blackbirds? Breeding season (March through July) offers the best viewing opportunities when birds form large colonies in Central Valley agricultural areas. Contact Audubon California for current colony locations.
How can I attract blackbirds to my backyard? Provide mixed seeds on platform feeders, maintain water sources, and plant native grasses that produce seeds. Red-winged and Brewer’s Blackbirds readily visit suburban yards with appropriate habitat.
Are European Starlings harmful to native birds? While non-native, starlings primarily compete with other cavity-nesting species and have established ecological roles in California’s modified landscapes. Their impact varies by location and habitat type.
Why are some blackbird species declining? Habitat loss, particularly wetland destruction and intensive agriculture, poses the primary threat. Climate change and pesticide use also contribute to population declines in sensitive species like Tricolored and Rusty Blackbirds.
California’s black birds offer endless opportunities for observation and study, from the intelligence of corvids to the conservation challenges facing specialized species. Whether you’re a beginning birder or experienced naturalist, these 10 species provide the foundation for understanding blackbird diversity in the Golden State. Your observations contribute to ongoing conservation efforts and scientific understanding, making every birding experience part of a larger story of discovery and protection.
