The Yellow-headed Blackbird offers a harsh, unmusical utterance, even harsher than the Red-winged Blackbird, sounding quite like a rusty hinge. They will roost and nest within thick, reedy marshes. Sometimes these flocking birds will mix with other blackbirds to forage for invertebrates and seeds in pastures and fields, where they can obtain sufficient food in both arenas. They can be found often in cow pastures where refuse from the animals is readily found to attract a variety of insects and flies.
Perhaps one of the most beautiful of blackbirds, the male of the species boasts a bright yellow head, throat, and breast with white primary wing coverts.
They are colonial nesters in marshes west of the Great Lakes, with the nest being attached to vegetation in marshes. They often sit upon cattails to keep intruders out of their little piece of real estate by displaying and announcing their territorial rights, and often nest with Red-winged Blackbirds. Breeding males usually have eight females at their disposal for breeding purposes and females will often mate with males in adjacent territories. They have a cooperative relationship with Forster's Terns to mob predators or give alarm calls. Yellow-heads may still be breeding in Texas County, OK, and are generally a new breeding species.
In winter, they often migrate to Mexico and the southwestern US, joining large flocks with other birds. Northern wintering populations are mostly males, while the southern group is usually females.
An interesting feeding technique is opening their bills in the ground like a post hole digger to unearth food and they will also overturn stones for the delectables underneath.
For Views of the Yellow-headed Blackbird and Other Species:
https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2017/05/pre-and-post-storm-events.html
https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2017/04/springs-migrants-have-been-dropping-in.html
https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2016/07/alls-quiet-before-proverbial-storm-not.html
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