The yellow-headed blackbird (''Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus'') is a medium-sized blackbird with a

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

. It is the only member of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Xanthocephalus''.

Description

Measurements: * Length: 8.3-10.2 in (21-26 cm) * Weight: 1.6-3.5 oz (44-100 g) * Wingspan: 16.5-17.3 in (42-44 cm) Yellow-headed blackbirdsTwedt, Daniel J. "Ecology of yellow-headed blackbirds." ''Ecology and Management of Blackbirds (Icteridae) in North America''. CRC Press, 2017. 43-64. are considered to be relatively large blackbirds with large heads. Their name derives from the Greek word for yellow, xanthous, and the word for head, cephalus. 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. Immature members of both sexes are brown with duller yellow plumage compared to adult males. Immature males also have some white patches on the wing. Both sexes resemble the respective sexes of the smaller

yellow-hooded blackbird The yellow-hooded blackbird (''Chrysomus icterocephalus'') is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. It is found in grassy and brush areas near water in northern South America, and is generally fairly common. It is sexually dimorphic, and th ...

of South America.

Behavior and ecology

Migration, habitat, and breeding

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 The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...

and the Lower

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

Valley of

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It is an extremely rare vagrant to western Europe, with some records suspected to refer to escapes from captivity. When migrating, males and females travel separately. Males typically arrive at the breeding marshes 2-3 weeks before females during spring migration.Ellarson, ROBERT S. "The yellow-headed blackbird in Wisconsin." ''Passenger Pigeon'' 12 (1950): 99-109. Research suggests that females choose breeding sites based on the reproductive success (number of young per breeding female) of the site in previous years. The breeding

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of the yellow-headed blackbird are

marshes A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

in North America (mainly west of the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

), particularly in plants such as cattails (genus ''

Typha ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in A ...

''), bulrush (genus ''

Scirpus ''Scirpus'' is a genus of grass-like species in the sedge family Cyperaceae many with the common names club-rush, wood club-rush or bulrush (see also bulrush for other plant genera so-named). They mostly inhabit wetlands and damp locations. Taxo ...

''), and common reeds (genus ''

Phragmites ''Phragmites'' () is a genus of four species of large perennial reed grasses found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Taxonomy The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, maintained by Kew Garden in London ...

''). The nest is built with and attached to marsh vegetation and is constructed over open water. They nest in

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

, often sharing their habitat closely with the

red-winged blackbird The red-winged blackbird (''Agelaius phoeniceus'') is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae found in most of North America and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and ...

(''Agelaius phoeniceus''). During the

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and rab ...

and

nesting season The nesting season is the time of year during which birds and some other animals, particularly some reptiles, build nests, lay eggs in them, and in most cases bring up their young. It is usually in the spring. Bird conservation Bird conservati ...

the males are very territorial and spend much of their time perched on reed stalks and displaying or chasing off intruders.

Food

These birds eat seeds during majority of the year and insects throughout the summer months. They forage in marshes, fields, or on the ground; they sometimes catch insects in flight. Sunflowers are fairly popular amongst yellow-headed blackbirds in the Northern Great Plains, with a study indicating that males eat more sunflower than grains and females more grains than sunflower. Some methods of gathering food involve flipping over stones, catching insects from the top of water, and foraging. Foraging methods take place in uplands, with the flock taking a "rolling" formation in which birds fly from the back to the front of the flock to feed. Female yellow-headed blackbirds primarily feed their newly-hatched young insects from the order ''

Odonata Odonata is an order of flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies. Members of the group first appeared during the Triassic, though members of their total group, Odonatoptera, first appeared in Late Carboniferous. The two comm ...

'', which includes dragonflies and damselflies. Outside the nesting period, they often feed in flocks, often with related species.

Songs and calls

This bird's song resembles the grating of a rusty hinge. Male yellow-headed blackbirds have been observed to have two types of songs, an "accent song" and a "buzz song". The “buzz songs'' have much higher pitch than the accent song, and thus do not echo as well in the dense marshes they live in. For that reason, buzzing songs are typically done when communicating closer whereas accent songs are done to communicate with birds further in the marshes. Female birds have a song that is described to be similar to the male "buzz song", consisting of harsh grating or buzz sounds. Both sexes are also found to elicit harsh calling notes.

Natural threats

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 behavior accordingly. Raptors occasionally prey on yellow-headed blackbird flocks. For example, media outlets reported that on February 7th, 2022, a flock of yellow-headed blackbirds migrating to Chihuahua, Mexico, were seen dropping dead in the early morning. According to experts, it is most likely that the birds were killed due to being flushed from above as a result of a predatory bird (presumably a raptor) chasing them, which caused some of them to fly into each other and crash into the ground and nearby buildings.

Conservation

Because yellow-headed blackbirds typically reside in wetlands, their population numbers depend on the conditions of the wetlands in which they reside. For instance, drainage projects, herbicides/pesticides, and other crop protection methods have impacts on the health of wetlands, and consequently, cause the bird population to fluctuate in number. Currently, yellow-headed blackbird numbers are stable and will likely remain that way in the long term.

Gallery

Yellow-headed Blackbird - female.jpg, Female Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus -100 Mile House, British Columbia, Canada -juvenile-8.jpg, Juvenile Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge (25786271705).jpg, Yellow-headed blackbirds in flight Yellow-headed black birds at Cokeville Meadows (20859509751).jpg, Group of yellow-headed blackbirds in Wyoming Yellow-headed Blackbird flock.jpg, Roosting flock, Whitewater Draw, Arizona Yellow-headed_Blackbird_Tex.jpg , South Padre Island, Texas

References

External links

Yellow-headed Blackbird
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology

- USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
Video
of a female yellow-headed blackbird in Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, Canada, well outside its normal range. * * {{Use dmy dates, date=March 2017

yellow-headed blackbird The yellow-headed blackbird (''Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus'') is a medium-sized blackbird with a yellow head. It is the only member of the genus ''Xanthocephalus''. Description Measurements: * Length: 8.3-10.2 in (21-26 cm) * Weight: ...

Native birds of the Canadian Prairies Native birds of the Plains-Midwest (United States) Fauna of the Lower Colorado River Valley Fauna of the Sonoran Desert

Extant Late Pleistocene first appearances