Yellow-headed Blackbird
Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus · New World Blackbirds and Orioles
Banding codeYHBL
Keys to identifying it
1Size & shape
About 9.5 in long.
2Color pattern
- Male: black with a bright yellow head and chest
- White wing patches in flight
- Female: brown with a dull yellow throat
3Habitat & season
Deep-water cattail marshes
In northern Utah: summer.
Seen most often in April, May and June.
Share of the region’s research-grade iNaturalist bird observations each month, scaled to this bird’s peak. Highlighted bars are its peak months.
4Voice
A harsh, strangled buzz like a rusty gate.
“a creaking, rusty-gate screech”
iNat 365913761 by David Gorsline · Farmington, UT 84025, USA · CC BY
Know it
- Its song sounds like a rusty farm gate swinging open.
- Takes the best deep-water nesting spots, pushing Red-winged Blackbirds to the marsh edges.
- A summer resident of marshes around the Great Salt Lake.
Often confused with
Bullock's Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle- Brown-and-yellow Marshbird
From iNaturalist identification data for northern Utah.
From Wikipedia
The yellow-headed blackbird is a medium-sized blackbird with a yellow head.
Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0