Red-winged Blackbird © celebrateurbanbirds.org

Vagrant to Trinidad and Tobago.

Formerly treated as conspecific with Red-shouldered Blackbird (Agelaius assimilis), but the two differ markedly in sexual dimorphism, in mating and nesting behaviour and in size and molecular data support treatment as separate species. Subspecific taxonomy complex. Distinctive subspecies gubernator has been suggested as being a separate species (sometimes including californicus and mailliardorum as subspecies); was possibly isolated in the past, but now intergrades with nelsoni. Over most of eastern USA and Canada geographical variation runs along smooth clines, and delimitation of subspecies is rather arbitrary. Several independent studies indicate minimal differences in mitochondrial DNA between most subspecies in eastern North America. Some authors suggest that arctolegus and fortis are better synonymized with nominate. Additional proposed subspecies are, in USA, stereus (described from Barr, Colorado), zastereus (from Boise, Idaho) and heterurus (from Fort Wingate, New Mexico), all tentatively included in fortis; and matudae (from Palizada, in Campeche, in Mexico) and brevirostris (from western Honduras), all treated as synonyms of richmondi.

The following 24 subspecies are recognised:

• arctolegus Oberholser, 1907   -  Breeds from south-eastern Alaska and western Canada (south-eastern Yukon, central Mackenzie, north-western Saskatchewan and north-central Manitoba south to central British Columbia, southern Alberta and western and north-eastern Ontario) southern in USA to eastern Montana, southern South Dakota and Iowa; migrates to southern USA.
• caurinus Ridgway, 1901   -  South-western Canada (British Columbia) southern along Usouthern coast to northern California.
• nevadensis Grinnell, 1914   -  Breeds from south-central and south-eastern British Columbia southern in western USA (from central Washington, northern Idaho and west-central Oregon) to south-central California and southern Nevada.
• mailliardorum van Rossem, 1926   -  Central coastal California, in south-western USA.
• californicus Nelson, 1897   -  Central California (Central Valley).
• aciculatus Mailliard, 1915   -  Kern County, in southern California.
• neutralis Ridgway, 1901   -  Southern coastal California and extreme north-western Mexico (northern Baja California).
• sonoriensis Ridgway, 1887   -  South-western USA (extreme southern Nevada, south-eastern California and Arizona) and north-western Mexico (northern Sonora).
• fortis Ridgway, 1901   -  Breeds in USA east of Rocky Mts (in western Montana and south-eastern Idaho east to western Nebraska and western Kansas, south to central and east-central Arizona, central and south-eastern New Mexico and northern and western Texas); northern populations migrate south to Gulf Coast.
• phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766)   -  Breeds from south-eastern Canada (southern Quebec east to western Newfoundland and Nova Scotia) and eastern USA (eastern from Wisconsin, Iowa and eastern Nebraska, south to north-eastern Texas, north-eastern Louisiana and central Florida); northern populations migrate south to at least Gulf Coast.
• littoralis Howell, AH & van Rossem, 1928   -  Coast of Gulf of Mexico from Texas east to Florida.
• mearnsi Howell, AH & van Rossem, 1928   -  South-central Florida.
• floridanus Maynard, 1895   -  Southern Florida (including Florida Keys).
• bryanti Ridgway, 1887   -  North-western Bahamas.
• nyaritensis Dickey & van Rossem, 1925   -  Pacific coast from western Mexico (southern from Nayarit) south to western El Salvador.
• gubernator (Wagler, 1832)   -  Central Mexico, from Durango south to Jalisco and Puebla.
• nelsoni Dickerman, 1965   -  Morelos and Puebla, in south-central Mexico.
• grinnelli Howell, AB, 1917   -  El Salvador to north-western Costa Rica (Guanacaste).
• megapotamus Oberholser, 1919   -  Southern Texas (extreme southern USA) and eastern Mexico (south to northern Veracruz).
• richmondi Nelson, 1897   -  Southern Veracruz south to northern Costa Rica (Limón).
• pallidulus Van Tyne & Trautman, 1946   -  Northern Yucatán Peninsula, in south-eastern Mexico.
• arthuralleni Dickerman, 1974   -  L Petén Itzá, in northern Guatemala.
• matudae Brodkorb, 1940   -  Tropical south-eastern Mexico.
• brevirostris Monroe, 1963   -  Caribbean slope of Honduras and south-eastern Nicaragua.

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