Blackbirds

Around 100 species, restricted to the Americas and unrelated to the Eurasian blackbird, which is a thrush. The family is unusually varied for its size, holding the orioles, meadowlarks, grackles, marsh-nesting blackbirds and the brood-parasitic cowbirds. Several are strongly polygynous, and the family includes some of the most abundant land birds in North America. Most share the same open-the-bill probing technique as the starlings.