Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Yellow-headed Blackbird
 Yellow-headed blackbirds are members of the Icteridae family which consists of their smaller cousin the red-winged black bird as well as bobolinks, cowbirds, grackles, meadowlarks, and orioles. They usually breed in the central and western plains region and migrate into the south western United States and Mexico for the winter. During their winter migration they often travel as part of large mixed species flocks.
Yellow-headed Blackbird
 The prefered breeding habitat of the yellow-headed blackbird are cattail marshes. They often share this habitat with red-winged blackbirds. Since the yellow-heads are larger they often dominate the smaller red-winged blackbirds and take the prime nesting locations for themselves. Males will fiercely defend their breeding territory and may mate with up to eight females nesting within his territory.Nests are built by the female out of vegetation and connected to four our five stalks of cattail, reeds or other marshland vegetation.


9 comments:

Unknown said...

Wonderful photos of a wonderful animal !!

Thank you for your entries, every time again, wish to see you again in then new year !!

Have a nice ABC-day / ABC-week
♫ M e l o d y ♫ (abc-w-team)

Leslie: said...

Great shots of a beautiful bird! Have a wonderful new year.

Leslie
abcw team

A Colorful World said...

I have yet to see one, and would love to! Beautiful photos!

Maxwell Mead Williams Robinson Barry said...

awesome yellow.

Mary Howell Cromer said...

Absolutely stunning species and thank you for all of the shares this year. Happy 2016 to you and yours~

Su-sieee! Mac said...

All right! I love knowing that there is a yellow-headed blackbird. That's great knowledge to charge with into the new year. A wonderful 2016 to you!
The View from the Top of the Ladder

Roger Owen Green said...

pretty bird

ROG, ABCW

Wally Jones said...

Nice description and images! We don't usually see them here in central Florida but one is rumored to be a short distance from here, so off I go!

Lea said...

Beautiful bird!
We have the Red-Winged Blackbirds here, but I find them difficult to photograph. You did a wonderful job with this bird!