Blackbirds are probably some of the least melodious of all songbirds. So why do I study their songs? I became interested in blackbirds because they vary in mating system -- some are polygynous, some monogamous, some breed on territories, some in large colonies -- and I wanted to determine whether their song repertoires were related to their mating system. So far, I have not found evidence that they are (Irwin 1990), but I continue to be fascinated by the fact that birds with similar mating systems show extreme variation in the average song repertoires of males. I am interested in obtaining recordings of known individuals of as many species as I can, to continue to study this question.
Eventually, this page will contain more information on this topic, on the use of songs to study phylogeny, and recordings of species such yellow-headed blackbirds (one of the least melodious of the blackbirds), great-tailed grackles (one of the most peculiar sounding of the blackbirds), and western meadowlarks (finally! a blackbird with a beautiful song!)