Bobolinks

Here are a couple interesting-looking birds I encountered last month: Bobolinks. These are males in their breeding plumage; their non-breeding plumage looks awfully similar to female plumage, which is far less eye-catching. The buttery-yellow on the head and the patches of white elsewhere contrast sharply with their black plumage, making these guys extremely easy to identify.

These birds like fields/meadows/pastures. They'll sometimes be seen above the vegetation line eating seeds off of plants, but they'll also hit the ground to forage for insects living within the vegetation.

Bobolinks are kind of the swingers of the New World blackbird family, having polygynous males and polyandrous females. This means Bobolink nestlings might be as closely related to the "nest next door" as they are to the ones they were raised with. As a species, Bobolinks have no really close relatives, and are the only species in their genus.

Bobolinks are also impressive migrators, spending our winter months well below the equator in South America. New Jersey is near the southern part of their breeding range; I wonder if that'll change due to climate change. For now though, we can find them during breeding season.

June 12, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 209946841, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

June 12, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 209946946, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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