{"id":57874,"date":"2019-05-16T05:35:49","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T11:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=57874"},"modified":"2025-05-20T13:59:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T18:59:55","slug":"female-yellow-headed-blackbird-foraging-on-the-ground-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/16\/female-yellow-headed-blackbird-foraging-on-the-ground-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Female Yellow-headed Blackbird Foraging On The Ground At Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FemaleFemale Yellow-headed Blackbird foraging on the ground – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The fore and background of this image may be messy or cluttered looking but I love the way this photo shows the female Yellow-headed Blackbird in the habitat I find them in at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I photographed this female Yellow-headed Blackbird from the auto tour route earlier this week as she foraged on the ground for prey. She was difficult to track with my lens because she moved rather quickly through the vegetation hunting for insects and because of that I had quite a few images where my camera locked on the plants instead of her. I’ve seen these blackbirds snatch midges straight out of the air and I am surprised she didn’t grab the one that is seen in flight a few inches away from her bill in this frame.<\/p>\n

At first I thought this female had some pigment issues going on because I don’t recall seeing so many white feathers on the breast of a female Yellow-headed Blackbird but some females do show white plumage on their breast and it seems like this female just has a little more than normal.<\/p>\n

I have images of female Yellow-headed Blackbirds that have clean backgrounds in my portfolio but they don’t seem to give as much of a sense of place or habitat as this photo does which is probably why I find this photo appealing. Your tastes may vary.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

The fore and background of this image may be messy or cluttered looking but I love the way this photo shows the female Yellow-headed Blackbird in the habitat I find them in at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,27,1148,26,427],"tags":[4004,3813,3483,4070,4136,5943,3970,6917,4178,1386],"class_list":["post-57874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-utah","category-yellow-headed-blackbird","tag-adult","tag-blackbird","tag-blackbirds","tag-female","tag-foraging","tag-ground","tag-hunting","tag-vegetation","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-female-ground-mia-mcpherson-5702.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-f3s","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4696,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/30\/yellow-headed-blackbirds-friday-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":57874,"position":0},"title":"Yellow-headed Blackbirds – Friday Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","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 displaying, 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-1642.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-1642.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yellow-headed-blackbird-1642.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a wonderful and relaxing morning at Bear River MBR yesterday and took photos of a female Yellow-headed Blackbird singing on the marsh not long after sunrise.","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":"Singing female Yellow-headed Blackbird, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, 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Midge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) can perch on cattails, reeds, rushes or mounds of vegetation and snatch Midges right out of the air.","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 about to grab a midge from the air, 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-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, 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