Yellow-Headed Blackbird

The Yellow-headed Blackbirds are a beautiful marsh-dwelling blackbird. in the west.  The male
adult has a bright yellow head, darker in winter, with a black mask. Females are a brownish with a supercilium and breast.  They have a whitish throat with throat with dark lateral stripes, plus a yellow malar stripes above them.

There was a increase in their population in the 70's  Local droughts can alter their numbers.  They breed in deep water wetlands of cattail, rushes or Phragmites.  They forages in adjacent grasslands or farmland.

The photos were taken in Cibola Wildlife Refuge near Blythe, CA, that is some 17,267 acres.