Young birds often have the same feather color and pattern as their mother until they get their adult feathers. Three eggs were in the Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoenicius nest this spring; three young birds fledged out of that nest, looking like their mom.
Today, this young one perched close enough that we could see the beginning of the orange epaulettes on the shoulders. Females do have epaulettes but they are usually orange-gold and blend in with her brown streaky appearance. Males will molt into more blackish body feathers to contrast with bright orange-red epaulettes.
But all have the pointy long beak, so nicely posed by the blackbird in this photo.
