Yellow-headed Blackbird - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by BigSkyBirds
Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Montana, USA

Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus

Identification

Male 26·5 cm (10½ in):

• Yellow head, neck and breast
• Black around the eye to base of bill
  
• Rest of body black
• White wing patches

• There is a rare orange/red headed variant
  

Females 21·5 cm (8½ in)

• Smaller and browner overall, except for a yellow throat and upper breast. Lower breast streaked with white. Lacks white wing patches.

Distribution

Female
Photo © by bobsofpa
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, USA, May 2007

Breeding range extends from British Columbia to the Great Lakes region, and throughout the western and central U.S. Resident populations can be found along the U.S. west coast.

Winters in the southern U.S. and Mexico.

Taxonomy

Juvenile
Photo © by countryboy2
British Columbia, July 2015

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Habitat

Photo © by AndyS56
Bear River Bird Refuge, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, 2 June 2015

Freshwater marshes and lakes with reeds are areas for nesting and roosting, during fouraging often spreads into farmland.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists of seeds from weeds and crops; and also insects.

Vocalisation

Loud, with a variety of calls.

Gallery

Click on photo for larger image

• 

  First Winter
  Photo by bobsofpa
  Eagles Lake Park, Naples, Florida, USA, April 2008

• 

  Orange headed variant
  Photo by Ursinus
  Tule Lake NWR, California, May 2007

• 

  Photo by eastwood
  Iona, Richmond, British Columbia, May 2008

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Twedt, D. J. and R. D. Crawford (2020). Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.yehbla.01

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Yellow-headed Blackbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 11 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Yellow-headed_Blackbird

External Links

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