{"id":4696,"date":"2012-03-30T04:42:21","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T10:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4696"},"modified":"2025-05-20T12:08:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T17:08:53","slug":"yellow-headed-blackbirds-friday-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/30\/yellow-headed-blackbirds-friday-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Yellow-headed Blackbirds – Friday Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) have begun to show up in large numbers in my area of the country. I’m seeing them perched on cattails, phragmites and in flight.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Yellow-headed Blackbird on Curly Dock – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/500, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0The freshwater marshes that surround the Great Salt Lake provide excellent breeding grounds for this species.<\/p>\n

Female Yellow-headed Blackbirds are\u00a0brown and have yellowish throats and facial patches. I photographed the female above perched on Curly Dock at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area<\/span><\/a> on the last trip I made to Utah before permanently moving here.<\/p>\n

\"Yellow-headedYellow-headed Blackbird male displaying – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yellow-headed Blackbird males are black with white primary coverts and have yellow heads, chests and throats. They are easily identifiable and unmistakable. I photographed this displaying male above at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.<\/p>\n

The males are a challenge to expose properly in photographs because of the high contrast between the yellows, blacks and whites. I generally expose for the darks and hope I don’t blow out the white primary coverts if they are shown.<\/p>\n

Yellow-headed Blackbirds have a very mechanical sounding call, it can be heard here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my Yellow-headed Blackbird photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yellow-headed Blackbirds have begun to show up in large numbers in my area of the country. I’m seeing them perched on cattails, phragmites and in flight. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,27,697,26,427],"tags":[4004,3813,3483,1387,779,4070,4005,4062,4094,610,4178,1386],"class_list":["post-4696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","category-yellow-headed-blackbird","tag-adult","tag-blackbird","tag-blackbirds","tag-curly-dock","tag-displaying","tag-female","tag-great-salt-lake","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-marshes","tag-xanthocephalus-xanthocephalus","tag-yellow-headed-blackbird"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-1642.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1dK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6130,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/20\/female-yellow-headed-blackbird\/","url_meta":{"origin":4696,"position":0},"title":"Female Yellow-headed Blackbird","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Male Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) are flashy birds but I believe the females have a subtle beauty too.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-headed Blackbird female on the shore of the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-black-bird-female-mia-mcpherson-1717.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-black-bird-female-mia-mcpherson-1717.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-mia-mcpherson-4765.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-mia-mcpherson-4765.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-mia-mcpherson-4765.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-mia-mcpherson-4765.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21176,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/04\/04\/yellow-headed-blackbird-male-just-before-lift-off\/","url_meta":{"origin":4696,"position":3},"title":"Yellow-headed Blackbird Male Just Before Lift Off","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"To my delight the mechanical sounding calls of male Yellow-headed Blackbirds buzzed over the marshes of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-headed Blackbird male just before lift off, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-male-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-3016.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-male-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-3016.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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