>>
>> Grant,
>>
>> It sounds like you've found some Red-winged Blackbird nests by your
>descriptio
>n
>> of habitat "hanging several feet above the water ."
>
>
>According to The Birder's Handbook, red-winged blackbirds don't make a
>sock like nest, they make a typical cup shaped nest.

A close look at a Red-winged Blackbird nest does give the impression of a cup
since nests built in cattails, for example, are suspended between several reeds
since no branch or 'v' exists on which the nest can be built. Red-wings
commonly place their nests in low shrubs that are in or near water and when
this is done the nests are always(?) suspended from two horizontal twigs near
the main stem. The bulk of the nest then 'hangs' below with no visible means
of support. The Red-wing nests that I've seen have had a woven appearence and
are usually made with grasses that bleach yellowish during the winter, not gray
as Northern Oriole nests do.

Scott