A few afternoons when I came home this week, I heard a large flock of red-winged blackbirds and grackles around the place.

Red-wings are one of my absolute favorite birds. I love the dashing epaulettes on the males, and I love the call these birds make.

I've seen the call spelled in all sorts of ways, including kon-ka-ree (The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America), conk-la-ree (Cornell Lab or Ornithology website), and okalee (Journey North website).

I personally think the red-winged blackbirds are saying "Pot-pour-ri!"

I don't know how to imitate the potpourri call of red-winged blackbirds, but I can produce their general "chip" call. Here's how you do it:  get the tip of your tongue wet with spit and then give a slow "tisk" (of tisk-tisk).

The truth is, I love the entire blackbird or Icterid family, which includes red-winged blackbirds, yellow-headed blackbirds, rusty blackbirds, common grackles, Baltimore orioles, orchard orioles, and many others. And if it seems odd to you that brilliant orange orioles are in the same family as some of those nearly-all-black birds, I can tell you this:  the word Icterid comes from the Latin ictericus, which comes from the Ancient Greek ikteros, which means jaundiced and refers to the bright yellow feathers of many of the birds in this family. And the truth is if you listen to Baltimore orioles chatter, there is absolutely no doubting that they belong in the same family as red-winged blackbirds.

Now onto grackles.  I know not everyone appreciates these birds — some people consider them pests or "garbage birds" — but I don't feel that way. I think their dark iridescent coloring is beautiful, but I mostly like them because they chit and chat as most (all?) members of that family do.

A treeful of grackles sounds like a gossipy tea party to me, and when I came home this week to that sound, I felt like a group of friends was welcoming me. 

If you'd like to hear a common grackle, click here.  (Be sure to click on the button for the "Calls of flock.")

If you'd like to listen to the call of a Baltimore oriole, click here.  

And if you want to hear and see a red-winged blackbird, here's a very cool little video from YouTube: