Black and Red Birds: Types, Identification, and Characteristics (2024)

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Are you looking to identify birds with both black and red plumage? There are surprisingly numerous such beautiful creatures in North America, ranging from the iconic Northern Cardinal to lesser-known species like the Masked Crimson Tanager.

In this article, we’ll explore 15 types of black and red birds found in North America and general characteristics shared among all these feathered friends.

Types of Black and Red Birds

Hello there! As you know, North America is home to an array of black and red birds. The notable species include the Northern Cardinal, Scarlet Tanager, Vermilion Flycatcher, Red-winged Blackbird, Red-headed Woodpecker, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Tricolored Blackbird, Pileated Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Acorn Woodpecker.

While varying in size, habitat, and conservation status, these birds share vibrant plumage in shades of crimson, scarlet, and black.

Northern Cardinal

You’d find its crimson beauty lighting up your backyard like a living holiday ornament. The northern cardinal makes its home in shrubs, thickets, suburban gardens, and forest edges. This songbird feasts on insects, seeds, and fruit. Males feed incubating females as they dutifully tend to 2-5 eggs in a cup nest in a bush or low tree.

Though the male defends its territory against rivals, the bond between mates can last several years.

Scarlet Tanager

It’s brilliant to see your scarlet plumage against the green leaves as you forage for insects high in the canopy. As a tandem breeder, you arrive in deciduous forests during late spring after migrating north from the tropics.

Your scarlet and black colors camouflage against the sun-speckled leaves while you flutter after winged insects. Though not endangered, your numbers are slowly declining due to loss of mature oak habitats required for nesting and rearing one brood per year.

We must conserve tracts of untouched forest to ensure your migration each spring.

Vermilion Flycatcher

Catch a glimpse of dancing vermilion flame against the evening sky, as you behold nature’s playful performer. Watch as it sallies forth from its perch, performing aerial acrobatics to snare insects. This tiny tyrant flashes its crimson underside, proclaiming its territory. See it return to the same bare branch, joining its drab partner in nurturing the next generation.

Though abundant, appreciate this dash of color against the blue sky and green fields, bringing life to the landscape.

Red-winged Blackbird

Trigging your memory, the Red-winged Blackbird lacks the bright crimson coloring of the Vermilion Flycatcher yet remains a familiar marsh inhabitant with territorial males aggressively defending wetland domains.

Here are 5 key facts about the Red-winged Blackbird:

1. Abundant songbird of wetlands across North America
2. Males have red and yellow shoulder patches
3. Defends breeding territory with song and aggressive displays
4. Nests in marsh vegetation, up to 15 mates per male
5. Population stable, it consumes insects and grains

The Red-winged Blackbird‘s a familiar sight in wetlands across North America, with the males’ distinctive red and yellow shoulder patches making them easily recognizable. Though not endangered, they face challenges from habitat loss and climate change.

Overall, the Red-winged Blackbird remains a thriving bird appreciated for its melodious song and flashy plumage.

Red-headed Woodpecker

You gaze as that brilliant crimson crown bobs among the oaks, a vibrant splash of color against the muted browns and greens. This nonmigratory woodpecker with a dramatically dwindling population thrives in open woodlands across the central and southeastern United States.

Seeking insects and nuts, these birds excavate nests in dead trees and forage acrobatically, clinging vertically as they probe bark crevices. Though elusive, the melodious call reveals their presence in degraded savannas and parks.

Promoting mature trees and snags aids recovery for these vulnerable, tympanic tenants of oak groves and pine barrens.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Over the canopy, your ruby heart would cease its bleeding should scarlet misery reign this summer.

1. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak arrives to breed in northern hardwoods.
2. It consumes seeds, berries, buds, and insects during spring and summer.
3. In fall it migrates through the eastern US to winter in Central and northern South America.
4. The grosbeak exhibits beautiful scarlet plumage on males during mating season.

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak’s striking coloration reflects its migratory habits across the Americas. The rose-breasted grosbeak, black and red birds like vermilion flycatchers and crimson-collared tanagers, join desert cardinals in exhibiting vivid red plumage.

Tricolored Blackbird

The tricolored blackbird is endangered with a declining population, yet it eats insects, grains, and seeds just like its abundant red-winged cousins. Known for its two-colored plumage, this small blackbird differs by having a scarlet shoulder patch bordered by yellow and white.

Flocks once numbered in the millions, but habitat loss and predation reduced the tricolored population by over ninety percent. Although similar in appearance, this blackbird’s distinctive red patch sets it apart.

Pileated Woodpecker

The striking Pileated Woodpecker inhabits mature deciduous and pine forests. With its bright red crest and black-and-white zebra stripes, it is magnificent. As it pounds and chisels to find carpenter ants, its flight feathers and tail feathers power its flight through its habitat.

Storing nuts and seeds sustains this threatened woodpecker, so protecting its home remains important.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

You spot a red-bellied woodpecker drilling holes in an oak tree’s trunk, storing berries and acorns within its crevices. This striking woodpecker punctures trees to cache nuts and fruit. It deftly climbs trunks and branches, probing for ants, beetles, and other insects with its spear-like bill.

Both sexes work together constructing nests in tree cavities. Widespread throughout eastern woodlands, this year-round resident brightens forests with its zebra stripes and vivid red cap. Though populations remain stable, habitat loss threatens the red-bellied woodpecker’s future.

Acorn Woodpecker

Eating stored rations ensures your survival. The Acorn Woodpecker stores acorns in granary trees, creating holes to hold thousands of nuts. This industrious bird chisels round holes into dead trees, filling them with acorns.

Family groups work together, gathering and caching acorns. Granary trees provide food through the winter. Acorn Woodpeckers breed in tree cavities they excavate. Their social groups defend granary trees.

This black-and-white woodpecker with a red cap is found in oak woodlands of western North America.

Lesser-Known Black and Red Birds

We’re delving into some of the more obscure black and red birds found in North America. The list includes the Red-breasted and Red-naped Sapsuckers, the Pine Grosbeak, Masked Crimson Tanager, and Crimson-collared Tanager.

While not as common as Cardinals or Tanagers, these unique birds offer a splash of red among the treetops and mountainsides. Their scarlet plumage and black accents stand out in the avian world. The vibrant hues of crimson, scarlet, and cardinal red make these lesser-known species a treasure to spot among the branches.

Though elusive to the casual bird watcher, their flashes of color light up the forests and hillsides for those fortunate to catch a glimpse.

Red-breasted Sapsucker

You’d be peckin’ for bugs and drillin’ sap wells along the coast faster than a jackrabbit if you had that red noggin like the Red-breasted Sapsucker.

With its striking scarlet head and breast, the Red-breasted Sapsucker skulks along the Pacific coast, tapping trees for sap. Though shy, it contributes to the forest ecosystem through its sap wells. Protecting its coastal habitat will aid this vulnerable woodpecker’s future.

1. Drills sap wells in trees to feed on sap
2. Nests in cavities carved in trees
3. Declining populations due to habitat loss

Red-naped Sapsucker

Spying that partial scarlet coloration while trekking the western mountains means you’re likely beholding the rare Red-naped Sapsucker. This striking woodpecker, preferring aspen and conifer-clad slopes of the Rockies and Sierra Nevada as summer digs, drills sap wells and feasts on tree fluids.

Nesting in tree cavities during courtship displays, males and females work together incubating eggs before youngsters fledge. Though numbers are healthy overall, destruction of nesting and foraging habitat threatens the future of this unique bird.

Pine Grosbeak

You won’t see the raspberry-red Pine Grosbeak with its black wings in those mountainous regions year-round. Foraging on seeds, berries, and buds in coniferous forests, this robin-sized bird blends into the pine needles.

The male’s crimson body contrasts with its black wings and tail, while the female is grayish-brown. Though widespread, populations fluctuate. Protecting its boreal habitat will help conserve this unique finch.

Masked Crimson Tanager

The Masked Crimson Tanager is a strikingly beautiful yet uncommon bird, even in its core habitat of tropical forests and lowland brush in Mexico and Central America. During breeding season, the vivid crimson and black plumage of bright males attracts mates, as do their calls.

This shy Tanager is a wanderer, with individuals occasionally wandering north of their normal range, showing up in the southern United States. When they do, these rare vagrants display their remarkable plumage that makes them stand out.

Crimson-collared Tanager

You’re right, this tiny bird is a striking creature with a splash of fiery red on its head that wanders up from Mexico now and then to give southern Texas a glimpse of its brilliant plumage. Rarely seen north of the border, it prefers tropical deciduous forests and shrublands.

The male has a bright crimson head while the female sports a paler pinkish-red cap. They raise multiple broods each year, feeding on insects and fruit. Though uncommon in the US, overall they remain widespread and not considered threatened.

General Characteristics of Black and Red Birds

A robin-sized blackbird with a medium-length tail often has a hump-backed silhouette when perching, according to general characteristics of black and red birds in North America.

1. Display intricate plumage patterns and colors, like crimson, scarlet, raspberry red.
2. Exhibit specialized behavioral adaptations for acquiring food and attracting mates.
3. Occupy diverse ecological niches across various habitats and regions.
4. Form complex social structures, with some being quite aggressive and territorial during breeding season.

These visually striking birds inhabit their environments in unique ways, from tapping trees for insects to gathering seeds from marshland grasses. Their splashes of red and black bring beauty and activity to the landscapes they call home.