Yellow-headed Blackbird

Xanthocephalus xanthocephalusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Blackbirds and Orioles (Icteridae)
Yellow-headed Blackbird Portrait
  Splitbar
Range Map for Yellow-headed Blackbird

Overview

Yellow-headed Blackbird: Medium-sized blackbird with black body, bright yellow hood and breast, and distinct white wing patches. Bill, legs and feet are black. Forages in low vegetation and on the ground. Feeds on insects, larvae, snails, seeds, and grains. Strong direct flight on rapid wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Yellow-headed Blackbird: Breeds from central British Columbia, northern Alberta, and Wisconsin south to southern California, northern New Mexico, and Illinois. Spends winters in southern U.S. and northern Mexico. Nests in freshwater marshes; during migration and winter prefers open, cultivated lands, fields, and pastures.

Splitbar

Listen:

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Voice Text

"croak"

Splitbar

Related Birds:

Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Boat-tailed Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
Bobolink
Eastern Meadowlark
Yellow Grosbeak
.

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Family Orioles and Blackbirds (Icteridae)_blue
Species Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
Length8 - 11 Inches
Wingspan15.5 Inches

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Yellow-headed Blackbird: Medium-sized blackbird with black body, bright yellow hood and breast, and distinct white wing patches. Bill, legs and feet are black. Forages in low vegetation and on the ground. Feeds on insects, larvae, snails, seeds, and grains. Strong direct flight on rapid wing beats.

● Song: "croak"

● Foraging & Feeding: Yellow-headed Blackbird: Diet consists of beetles, weevils, grasshoppers, dragonflies, spiders, ants, and seeds of panic grass, ragweed, smartweed, and pigweed. Forages in low vegetation and on the ground; may hawk insects in the air.

● Breeding & nesting: Yellow-headed Blackbird: Three to five dark-marked, pale gray or green eggs are laid in a bulky, deep basket nest woven into emergent vegetation over water. Nest is made with wet vegetation, which tightens as it dries. Incubation ranges from 11 to 13 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Yellow-headed Blackbird: Male is only North American bird with a yellow head and black body. Female is distinguished from other blackbirds by yellow throat and breast.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Yellow-headed Blackbird Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Yellow-headed Blackbird: Breeds from central British Columbia, northern Alberta, and Wisconsin south to southern California, northern New Mexico, and Illinois. Spends winters in southern U.S. and northern Mexico. Nests in freshwater marshes; during migration and winter prefers open, cultivated lands, fields, and pastures.
BreedingPolygamous, Colonial
Population
MigrationMigratory
Weight2.8 Ounces