Yellow-headed Blackbird
Learn to identify the Yellow-headed Blackbird by ear. Master the "kreeee-kooorr" phrase and tell it apart from similar species.
What the Yellow-headed Blackbird sounds like
A few musical whistles tumble into a harsh, rasping buzz, the famous rusty-gate sound. Males deliver it from exposed cattails and other high perches.
How to tell it apart
Lessons featuring the Yellow-headed Blackbird
Ready to test your ear? Practice identifying the Yellow-headed Blackbird's sounds in this interactive in-app lesson.
Start Learning Free
Where you'll hear it
Breeds across western and central North America from the Canadian Prairie Provinces south through the Great Plains, Great Basin, and northern Mexico. Winters in the southwestern United States, Baja California, and western & central Mexico.
Large, permanent, freshwater marshes dominated by cattails, bulrushes, or reeds; in migration and winter also found in open fields, feedlots, grain stubble, and wet meadows.
Northern breeders arrive in late April and May and depart in August or September. Northbound migration peaks in March–April; southbound movement peaks in September–October.
How to recognize it by sight
Adult males pair a blazing yellow head and breast with a black body and bold white wing patches. Females are browner and more muted, usually without the male's crisp white patch.
Similar species
Red-winged Blackbird
Red-winged has red & yellow shoulder epaulets, entirely black head, no white wing patch.
Bobolink
Breeding male Bobolink has buff nape and white back patches but a black belly; smaller size, shorter tail.
Brewer’s Blackbird
Brewer’s lacks yellow head and white wing patch; glossy purplish head with pale eye in males.