The Icteridae are the blackbirds, but they include many colorful species such as the orioles and meadowlarks as well as the all-black species, such as cowbirds and grackles. Some of the tropical species, such as the oropendolas are downright amazing-looking and sounding birds. This group of birds is only found in the Americas and they are amongst our most interesting of landbirds, behavior, mating strategies, and breeding biology is more diverse than in any other group of songbirds in our continent. This talk is to introduce people to the awesomely interesting group of birds. After this talk, you won’t walk by a Brewer’s Blackbird or Red-winged Blackbird without thinking about how much more complex they are than a sparrow or a warbler. Our quest to see the diversity of the blackbirds will also take us to some interesting parts of the American continent and the Caribbean.

Alvaro Jaramillo is an Affiliated Senior Biologist with SFBBO and the owner of Alvaro’s Adventures where he leads workshops and birding trips throughout the world. He has a B.S. in Zoology and an M.S. in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Toronto, and also conducted research at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is an author and contributor to numerous field guides and popular publications, including the American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of California and New World Blackbirds.