Bobolink

Male's song is a long, bubbling, rambling warble with mix of sharp high notes and buzzy low notes, often likened to R2-D2-like or a gurgling, tumbling sound. This song is given in flight or from perches over fields. Calls include a sharp "pink" note.

Long-distance migrant. Breeds in northern U.S. and southern Canada in summer; winters in southern South America. Passes through Central America and the Caribbean during migration. Absent from North America in winter.

Tall grasslands, wet meadows, and overgrown pastures. Favors damp meadows and prairies with dense grasses; often nests in hayfields and alfalfa fields when native prairies are unavailable.

Arrives on breeding grounds in late spring. Males perform flight displays and continuous bubbling songs in spring and early summer. By late summer, molts into dull plumage before migrating. Undertakes one of the longest migrations of any songbird (~20,000 km round-trip annually).

Breeding male is striking: black underparts and face with a buffy-yellow hind crown, and white back and rump (often likened to wearing a tuxedo backwards). Female and nonbreeding male are pale buffy and brown, heavily streaked, resembling sparrows. Both sexes have short conical bills and pointed wings.