Let's reconstruct the events that must have occurred at the place shown in the photo before the photo was actually taken. 1. The female pulled some cattail stems together about 4 feet above the ground. 2. She constructed a nest there of pieces of nearby vegetation. 3. She lined the nest with fine grasses. 4. One male red-wing "hung around "and drove away other black birds that have red wing patches. 5. The female finishes the nest in three to six days The redwing usually nests in a marsh, which by definition is a tract of low, wet, soft land and usually covered with water and grasslike plants such as cattails and phragmites. The latter is 6 to 12 feet tall and topped by a gray plume in the fall. In winter, the plume is brown.
Since these plants have no horizontal branches for perches, note how the redwing must perch on a single vertical stem with one foot above the other.
When it comes to building a nest among cattails, it is the female that does all the work.
Her dark and brownish streaks on the body act as excellent camouflage and protection when she is in the nest. Incubation takes about 11 days and is done entirely by the female.
Benjamin P. Burtt writes about birds every other week for Stars. Write to him in care of Stars Magazine, P.O. Box 4915, Syracuse, NY 13221; or firstname.lastname@example.org (put "birds" in the subject field).