Common Name: Yellow-headed Blackbird
Scientific Name: Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
Order/Family: Passeriformes/Icteridae (New World Blackbirds)
Description: Yellow-headed blackbirds are considered to be relatively large blackbirds with large, yellow heads. Their name derives from the Greek word for yellow, xanthous, and the word for head, cephalus. Adults have a pointed bill. The adult male is mainly black with a yellow head and breast; they have a white wing patch sometimes only visible in flight. The adult female is mainly brown with a dull yellow throat and breast. Immature members of both sexes are brown with duller yellow plumage compared to adult males. Immature males also have some white patches on the wing.
Distribution: These birds migrate in the winter to the southwestern United States and Mexico. The breeding habitat of the yellow-headed blackbird are marshes in North America.
Habitat: Marshes, near water.
