Agelaius assimilis
The Red-shouldered Blackbird (Agelaius assimilis), sometimes referred to as the Cuban Red-shouldered Blackbird, is a striking songbird endemic to the island of Cuba and its associated smaller islands, including Isla de la Juventud. Males are a sleek, glossy black, accented by vivid scarlet shoulder patches (epaulets) that are often narrowly edged with pale yellow or buff. Females, while also black, are duller, sometimes with a brownish cast, and their shoulder patches are smaller, less vibran...
Primarily inhabits freshwater and brackish marshes, swamps, wet grasslands, and rice paddies in lowland areas across Cuba, preferring dense emergent vegetation for nesting and roosting.
Primarily insectivorous, consuming a wide variety of insects and spiders, supplemented with seeds from grasses and other marsh plants, and occasionally small snails or other invertebrates. They forage by gleaning from vegetation and probing in mud.
Red-shouldered Blackbirds are active foragers, typically seen gleaning insects and seeds from the ground and low vegetation within their wetland habitats. During the breeding season, males establish and vocally defend territories with characteristic song and display flights, often involving flari...
The Red-shouldered Blackbird is strictly endemic to the Republic of Cuba and its associated satellite islands, most notably Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth). Its distribution spans suitable wetland habitats across the main island, from the western provinces of Pinar del Río and Artemisa, throu...
Least Concern
- The Red-shouldered Blackbird is entirely endemic to Cuba and the nearby Isla de la Juventud, never migrating from its island home. - It was once considered a subspecies of the widespread Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) but is now recognized as a distinct species due to morphological ...