Recently we spent a few days touring some of our local birding hotspots with Jim and Nancy DeWitt, friends from Alaska who were visiting our area. One of Jim’s goals was to see and photograph Yellow-headed Blackbirds, a species not found in Alaska. We felt sure we could find some for him but sadly we failed, even though we had seen them recently. Apparently they have skedaddled south for warmer climes. But the experience made me realize that I’ve neglected the species in my posts so I decided to rectify the situation.
Males are real acrobats in their springtime territorial displays and they have two types of “song spreads” when they’re singing – each accompanied by a distinct song type. Both of these photos are of a male displaying one of those two spreads – the Symmetrical Song Spread. I prefer to photograph these birds doing this spread because during the Asymmetrical Song Spread they arch their necks sharply to the left (yes, always to the left and never the right) which exposes the neck skin and often makes for a decidedly unattractive photo.
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light
During the Symmetrical Song Spread, the bird spreads its wings to reveal the white patches and the tail is splayed out and lowered. If you can get the right light and exposure on the bird, this posture will often give you an interesting and rather dramatic image. The Symmetrical Song Spread is most often displayed when competing males fly over their territory.
1/100, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light
But at a different angle, the same behavior can look pretty silly. Technically not a perfect shot (I had a very slow shutter speed) but I’ve always liked it because it brings a smile to my face.
Ron
Note – If you find the “left handededness” of certain bird behaviors to be as intriguing as I do, you may be interested in the following links:
* A post by Nathan Pieplow documenting the head turn that is always to the left in the Asymmetrical Song Spread.
* One of my posts on a “left-handed” Short-eared Owl – this bird, without exception, always carried its prey in its left foot.
I thought I knew everything about these birds, but the symmetrical and asymmetrical song spreads were totally new to me. Thanks for the behavior information and great shots!
Fantastic shots!
Such a yellow head they have. And yes, I couldn’t help but smile at the last image. Thank you.
Elephant’s Child, yes – that yellow head is so distinctive I don’t think any other common name for the species would work as well.
I agree with BW. Great shots and exposures of these beautiful birds. I think that they should be arriving here soon.
Thank you Bob. I hope you have better luck with them than I did this summer – for some reason they were absent from my favorite place to photograph them.
*Beautiful* shots. That is one of the best behavioral shots of a blackbird I’ve seen. Great work.
Thanks very much BW.