Yellow-headed Blackbird - No 2
by Nikolyn McDonald
Title
Yellow-headed Blackbird - No 2
Artist
Nikolyn McDonald
Medium
Photograph
Description
Yellow-headed blackbirds (Xanthocephalus Xanthocephalus) are colonial. In the spring they normally nest in wetlands. In the spring and summer of 2019, flooding was extensive and severe in the Missouri River valley. As a consequence, many fields that would normally be dry and planted in corn or soybeans were instead fresh water marshes - perfect for these birds - and I was able to observe and photograph their behavior on a farm in eastern Iowa, just across the border from where I live south of Omaha, Nebraska. This is a male, displaying - both to impress the females he's mating with and to defend an area within the colony that he has staked out from red-winged blackbirds, marsh wrens, and other birds that also favor this environment. The moment of capture here shows off the two outstanding characteristics of this bird: the white on the wings, most visible when it takes flight, and the yellow head.
Featured: Wildlife
Uploaded
March 4th, 2021
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