Species: Dolichonyx oryzivorus

Bobolink

Species

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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

A 18-cm-long bird with a stout, relatively short, pointed bill and sharply pointed tail feathers; breeding male is black below, with a buff to whitish hind-neck, white scapulars, and white rump; early spring male has pale feather edgings; breeding female is buffy with dark streaks on the back, rump, sides, and head; juvenile resembles breeding female but lacks streaks below; fall adults and immatures resemble breeding female but are darker above and richer buff below (NGS 1983). Strongly sexually and seasonally dimorphic with respect to body mass; mean body weights: breeding females, 29.1 g; breeding males, 33.9 g; migrating females, 39.9 g; migrating males, 51. g (Martin and Gavin 1995).

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Icteridae

Genus

Dolichonyx

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102736

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Tordo Arrocero, Charlatán - Triste-Pia - goglu des prés

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Icteridae - Dolichonyx

Ecology and Life History

Short General Description

A small bird.

Migration

false - false - true - Bobolinks arrive in northern nesting areas late April-early May; males arrive a few days to a week before females (Terres 1980). Bobolinks are uncommon migrants in fall in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, rare in spring (Raffaele 1983). Migration occurs mostly via the West Indies; small numbers reach Middle America (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989). Bobolinks are rare fall migrants in Costa Rica, mid-September to October, and are basically absent in spring (Stiles and Skutch 1989). They are transient in Colombia, mainly early September-late November and early March to mid-May (Hilty and Brown 1986).

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

false

Food Comments

Diet includes insects, seeds, grain (Terres 1980); mainly seeds (Stiles and Skutch 1989).

Reproduction Comments

Clutch size is four to seven (usually five to six). Incubation, by female, lasts 11-13 days. Young are tended by both parents, leave nest at 10-14 days (still unable to fly). In some areas, individual females very rarely may produce a second clutch (unsuccessful) after the first brood fledges (Gavin 1984).

Ecology Comments

Bobolinks often are in large flocks during northward migration.

Length

Weight

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

2009-03-18

Global Status Last Changed

1996-12-04

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

GH - 200,000 to >2,500,000 square km (about 80,000 to >1,000,000 square miles) - GH - Breeding range extends from southern British Columbia across southern Canada to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, south to central Washington, eastern Oregon, northern Utah, Kansas, Illinois, Ohio, southern Pennsylvania, and central New Jersey, locally to north-central Kentucky, western North Carolina, and western Maryland (AOU 1998). During the northern winter, the range is in central and southern South America, mainly from Peru, eastern Bolivia, and central Brazil to northern Argentina (Stiles and Skutch 1989, Martin and Gavin 1995, AOU 1998); mostly in the pampas of southwestern Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina (Ridgely and Tudor 1989, Martin and Gavin 1995).

Global Range Code

Global Range Description

200,000 to >2,500,000 square km (about 80,000 to >1,000,000 square miles)

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102736