Yellow Headed Blackbirds (photos)

[Tom Wilson]

Finally got some decent shots of the Yellow Heads. This bird has been sort of a nemesis for me, as I could never get close enough for some full frame decent shots. I'm happy to say that we finally got this deal worked out.

Tom Wilson

[Dbl]

That is a stunning series of photos! Your wait was more than worth it. WOW!

[Dan Thiem]

Thank You very much for posting your photos! I've never seen one of them before. They must not be around in S.E. Minnesota. Is the sound like a Red Wing Blackbird? In your pictures it looks like the bird is singing. At any rate, that's a very cool looking bird!

[Tom Wilson]

Dan,

up until about two years ago, I hardly ever saw them around here where I live in the SW burbs. I used to see them when I would get out around Wilmar or Appleton, and they are thick in S. Dakota. They have been making a steady migration towards the east, and I would say that within a few years their populations will be high here as well. They do make a sound very similiar to a RWBB, but it is a little more shrill, and has a peculair note at the end that sounds like one of those old time water whistles that you might have had as a kid--or at least like I had as a kid. They are beautiful birds though aren't they?

Tom W

[buzzsaw]

Now thats alot better Tom! I like how you got them in action singing, did you have to do much cropping?

[Tom Wilson]

No those are all full frame with the exception of two of them that were full frame cropped to vertical.

Tom W

[Wiskers]

NOt only are those some good close ups but the photo quality is outstanding. Very nice job. We do not have them around us up here but they were all over down south where I used to live. Nice to see them again.

[Steve Foss]

Beautiful work Tom. The singers, of course, are my favorites, because, while I like any sharp well exposed pictures of birds/animals, I especially like them when the subject is doing something. The singing action adds a drama the others lack.

[Dotch]

Beautiful Tom! These were not common around the Spring Valley area where I grew up. Back in the late 60's, remember seeing them first when Dad would take us along in the old '58 IH pickup to Wilson in Albert Lea with a load of fat lambs. There were many more wetlands in those days along the route we used to take. Growing up amongst the trout and smallmouth streams, cattail sloughs were intriguing especially when one saw a curiosity like a yellow-headed blackbird. Thanks for jogging the memory Tom!

[Tyler Holm]

Yep, those birds are thick in SoDak. They are as common as the red winged blackies.

[floating minnow]

Really nice!

[Tom Wilson]

Thanks a lot guys.

[M.T. Bucket]

One of my favorite species...tough to find in Itasca County. They certainly have the best Latin name--Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus...Yellowhead yellowhead. YHBBs have a crazy song too.

Here's how Kaufmann describes it:

male strains to rasp out a few gurgles followed by long, strangled buzzing noise

Sibley says:

Song extremely harsh, unmusical; a few hard clacking notes on different pitches followed by wavering raucous wail like chainsaw.

According to answers.com:

Song, low, hoarse rasping notes produced with much effort; suggests rusty hinges.

I like to describe the sound as a [PoorWordUsage]ed off modem dialing up the Internet.

[Tom Wilson]

It has been forever since I had dial up, but man do I remember that sound--it does kind of sound like that. I love to hear them though, it means I'm about to catch another big Bass.

[jonny_redhorse]

I've never seen a yellow headed.....maybe I've just never payed any attention up here on "da range"...(tough to miss that bright yellow head though! lol!)...like I mentioned on a post last summer.I think we live in a "black-hole" in the birding world!...lol!(I think birds hate the smell of iron ore)...I think I've only seen 1 bluebird about 30 years ago......no cardinals.....a handful of waxwings (chewin on mountain ash berries)...but then again I really wasn't watching for any individual species "back then"....only recently have I really been looking since getting into photography....my most memorable bird sighting was about 10 years ago when I had a huge flock of "crossbills" in my yard at the feeders...resembled scarlet tanangers to a degree...never seen one since....jonny

[M.T. Bucket]

Yeah, you'd have to go to Winnibigoshish or the Embarrass wetlands to have your closest realistic shot at seeing one, I think. I have a couple of tailings ponds to check though, you never know...there might be a YHBB hotspot on the range.

There are plenty of bluebirds around rural Hibbing! In the winter, there are generally bohemian waxwings roaming around your town and there are plenty of cedar waxwings there in the summer...if you get a CD or go to findsounds.com and learn their calls, you'll be surprised at how many are around that you just didn't see.

The Hibbing CBC had a cardinal reported this winter. Maybe one of these days I'll run up to Hibbing and see how many species I can find in the town in a day...maybe posting a fairly long list here would help your optimism. One spot near Hibbing I like after spring rains is a wet field along 37, about 3/4 mile east of 137. I've seen gobs of semipalmated sandpipers and semipalmated plovers as well as a handful of other shorebirds and gulls.

If anything, the range is a great place to find veerys, northern flickers, killdeer, turkey vultures, and golden-winged warblers!

Speaking of crossbills, there were all kinds of red crossbills north of Grand Rapids this winter, but I never saw any white-winged crossbills.