Family: Icteridae, Blackbirds and Orioles view all from this family

Description 6-8" (15-20 cm). Breeding male largely black, with white rump and back, dull yellow nape. Female and winter male rich buff-yellow, streaked on back and crown. Short, finch-like bill. Female Red-winged Blackbird is darker, less buffy, and has longer bill.

Habitat Prairies and meadows; marshes during migration.

Nesting 4-7 gray eggs, spotted with red-brown and purple, in a poorly made but well-concealed cup of grass, stems, and rootlets, placed on the ground in a field.

Range Breeds from British Columbia, Manitoba, and Newfoundland south to northern California, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. Winters in southern South America.

Voice   Flight song is a series of joyous, bubbling, tumbling, gurgling phrases with each note on a different pitch. Call a soft pink, often heard on migration.

Discussion A polygamous bird, the male Bobolink courts with the basic blackbird stance: head down, neck feathers ruffled, tail fanned, and wings arched downward, displaying his prominent white shoulder patches. Originally the Bobolink was probably confined to the central grasslands, but with the settling of the Northeast it quickly spread into New England. Now, with farms abandoned and the land returning to forest, the species is declining. Each fall, migrant Bobolinks gather in large numbers in southern rice fields, where their habit of eating grain has earned them the name "Ricebird."