Red-winged blackbirds searching beneath pine bark for insects in winter

Most observers usually associate the Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) with open country such as marshes or upland fields and their wooded or brushy borders. On the wintering grounds in the coniferous belt of the southeastern United States, however, Red-wings spend some of their time feeding in pine forests. In the course of a day's feeding they move back and forth between pine woods and harvested fields of corn, peanuts, and cotton, or weed fields. It is not unusual to see Red-wings feeding in a scattering of pine trees at the edge of a marsh or in some upland area, but I was surprised to find them in dense stands of pine and to observe their method of feeding there.