Keltahupputurpiaali

Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical

Yellow-headed Blackbirds are widespread, abundant, and secure throughout most of their range. The Eastern and Central Breeding Bird Surveys have shown increases in Yellow-headed Blackbird populations of around 2% per year from 1966-1993 while the Christmas Bird Counts have recorded decreases in populations of more than 2% per year. (Stokes and Stokes 1996; Digital Atlas of Idaho 2000). This is a species of special concern in Michigan and in California.

US Migratory Bird Act: protected

US Federal List: no special status

CITES: no special status

State of Michigan List: special concern

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern

In the spring, several species of blackbirds including the Yellow-headed Blackbird feed on newly planted seed in agricultural fields. They are therefore somewhat responsible for losses farmers absorb in missing crops. (Atkinson 1969)

As an insect eater, the Yellow-headed Blackbird may benefit humans by eating potentially harmful (or painful) insects such as crop-eating grasshoppers.

Insects are the favorite food of the Yellow-headed Blackbird. It also forages on the ground to eat seeds, spiders, grass, and forb seeds. This blackbird can be seen foraging in fields, meadows, ranches, agricultural areas, and farms.

Animal Foods: insects

Plant Foods: seeds, grains, and nuts

Primary Diet: omnivore

During the summer, the yellow-headed blackbird migrates north to the west-central portions of Canada and the United States. Its range extends as far west as central-interior British Columbia, moving directly south through the central-interior west coast to northeastern Baja California. The eastern edge of the Yellow-headed Blackbird's range extends from western Ontario to northern Missouri.

During the winter, it can be found from California to Texas as well as in Mexico and casually in Costa Rica.

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); neotropical (Native )

Yellow-headed blackbirds are found in freshwater marshes during the summer. They particularly like to live amongst cattails, tule, and bulrush. During migration and over the winter months, the Yellow-headed Blackbird is found in open, cultivated lands, in fields, and in pastures.

Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; forest

Aquatic Biomes: lakes and ponds; rivers and streams

Average lifespan
Status: wild: 150 months.

His bright yellow hood and black body best identify the male Yellow-headed Blackbird. A white patch on his wing can be seen both while perched or flying. The female's coloring is more subdued. She can be best identified by her duller-yellow supercilium, throat, and breast. The rest of her body is grayish-brown, and she has white streaks extending down her breast. Juveniles are similar in appearance to the females.

Both male and female Yellow-headed Blackbirds are 9.5 inches (24 cm) long and have sharply pointed black bills. (Gough et al. 1988; Stokes and Stokes 1996)

Average mass: 65 g.

Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry

A polygynous breeder, the male Yellow-headed Blackbird stakes out his claim in a habitat of reeds over permanent open water. Females arrive to the area a few days later and are pursued by the males who sit on elevated vegetation with a spread tail and half-open wings and "sing." Sadly for human listeners, his song is composed of short, choked notes that sound more like a saw grating metal than a Romeo in love. The male Yellow-headed Blackbird may be able to secure up to as many as six mates depending on the quality of his territory. Male Yellow-headed Blackbirds who acquire new territory do not destroy broods sired by the previous territorial male. This tolerance for unrelated young may help them attract new mates as the females may mate and lay a second clutch with the new male.

The female builds a bulky, woven nest of wet vegetation in the reeds over water. As the nest materials dry, it shrinks, tightening its support on the emergent vegetation upon which it is attached. Nest building takes two to four days, and the nest is suspended ½ foot to three feet above the water.

The female Yellow-headed blackbird lays 3-5 greenish-white eggs with dark marks. Incubation lasts 11-13 days, and the chicks are altricial. They fledge within 9-12 days of hatching, and during their time in the nest, both parents feed them. For the first four days after birth, the chicks are fed at least partly by regurgitation. The amount of begging for food by Yellow-headed Blackbird chicks is related to the amount of food the parents bring to the nest. As nestlings, male Yellow-headed Blackbirds are significantly larger than their female counterparts. Yellow-headed Blackbirds only raise one (possibly two) broods each summer while their neighbors, the Red-winged Blackbirds, raises two to three broods (Elrich et al. 1988; Ortega and Cruz 1992; Gori et al. 1996; Stokes and Stokes 1996; Price 1998)

Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous

Average time to hatching: 12 days.

Average eggs per season: 4.