Male Yellow-Headed Blackbird #3

by J McCombie

Title

Male Yellow-Headed Blackbird #3

Artist

J McCombie

Medium

Photograph - Untouched

Description

This piece has been featured in the FAA Groups: "Whats New", and "Wild Birds Of The World - A Nature Photography Group".
The yellow-headed blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) is a medium-sized blackbird, and the only member of the genus Xanthocephalus.
The male Yellow-headed Blackbird is impressive to see, demanding your attention, but not to hear: it may have the worst song of any North American bird, a hoarse, harsh scraping or the sound of the grating of a rusty hingeon an opening farm gate. Yellow-heads nest in noisy colonies in big cattail marshes of the west and midwest; when not nesting, they gather in flocks in open fields, often with other blackbirds. At some favored points in the southwest in winter, they may be seen in flocks of thousands.
Adults have a pointed bill. The adult male is mainly black with a yellow head and breast; they have a white wing patch sometimes only visible in flight. The adult female is mainly brown with a dull yellow throat and breast. Both sexes resemble the respective sexes of the smaller yellow-hooded blackbird of South America. Both male and female birds grow to 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 centimeters) long with a 15-inch (38-centimeter) average wingspan.
The breeding habitat of the yellow-headed blackbird is cattail (Typha species) marshes in North America, mainly west of the Great Lakes. The nest is built with and attached to marsh vegetation directly over the water. They nest in colonies, often sharing their habitat closely with the red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus). During the breeding and nesting season the males are very territorial and spend much of their time perched on reed stalks and displaying or chasing off intruders. Yellow‐headed blackbirds have been found to be sensitive to nest predation risk, for example by marsh wrens Cistothorus palustris, and alter their nest attendance behaviour accordingly.
These birds migrate in the winter to the southwestern United States and Mexico. They often migrate in huge flocks with other species of birds. The only regions of the United States where these blackbirds are permanent residents are the San Joaquin Valley and the Lower Colorado River Valley of Arizona and California. It is an extremely rare vagrant to western Europe, with some records suspected to refer to escapes from captivity. They’re just as impressive in winter, when huge flocks seem to roll across farm fields. Each bird gleans seeds from the ground, then leapfrogs over its flock mates to the front edge of the ever-advancing troupe.
These birds forage in the marsh, in fields or on the ground; they sometimes catch insects in flight. They mainly eat seeds and insects. Outside the nesting period, they often feed in flocks, often with related species. These birds are omnivores, eating both animal and plant foods. They often forage on the ground to eat seeds, spiders, grasshoppers, grains, and nuts. They eat mostly aquatic insects in the summer and seeds in the winter months. They form flocks to feed on the seeds of wild plants and waste grain in farm fields, taking turns feeding at the front of the flock.

Uploaded

July 5th, 2021

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