Species: Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Species

Birds

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Terrestrial vertebrates: birds

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Icteridae

Genus

Xanthocephalus

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.106463

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Tordo Cabeza Amarilla - carouge à tête jaune

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Icteridae - Xanthocephalus - See Twedt et al. (1992) for information on genetic variation in the northern Great Plains. See Twedt et al. (1994) for information on morphological variation in the northern Great Plains. These authors concluded that the population could be divided into two subpopulations based on morphology. However, they acknowledged that there is an overall clinal trend, and they found no genetic differentiation between the proposed subpopulations.

Ecology and Life History

Migration

false - true - true - Generally a long-distance migrant; migrations more localized in some areas of California. Males precede females in migration.

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

true

Food Comments

Feeds on insects, seeds, and grain. Searches for food while walking along the ground or perched on seed-bearing plant; forages in fields and on muddy ground near water.

Reproduction Comments

Clutch size is 3-5. Incubation lasts 12-13 days, by female. Young leave nest 9-12 days after hatching; unable to fly until about 21 days old (Terres 1980).

Ecology Comments

Gregarious, often with much larger flocks of red-winged blackbirds in winter (Stiles and Skutch 1989). <br><br>Marsh wren may disrupt some nesting attempts (Bump 1986). In Manitoba, predation caused the failure of 51% of nests over two years, and the marsh wren was the most important nest predator (Picman and Isabelle 1995, Auk 112:183-191). Blackbird aggression may exclude marsh wrens from breeding areas (Leonard and Picman 1986). Small breeding territories, but forages up to 1.6 kilometers from nesting area (Willson 1966).

Length

Weight

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-12-04

Global Status Last Changed

1996-12-04

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

BREEDS: central-interior British Columbia east to extreme western Ontario and northwestern Ohio, south to southern California, northeastern Baja California, New Mexico, northern Texas, northern Missouri, and northwestern Ohio. WINTERS: central California, central Arizona, southern New Mexico, and Texas south to southern Baja California, Oaxaca and Veracruz (AOU 1983), casually to Costa Rica, accidental in Panama.

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.106463