#bobolink

[brooklynbridgebirds]

Bobolink Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 6

[herpsandbirds]

Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), male displaying, family Icteridae, order Passeriformes, UT, USA

photograph by john l crawley

[uwmspeccoll]

Feathursday Icterids

On this first Feathursday of the New Year, we present four members of the Icterid family of New World blackbirds that are common here in the Upper Midwest. From top to bottom, they are:

Yellow-headed Blackbird  (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) 

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)

Bobolink, male and female (Dolichonyx oryzivorus)

Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta)

This image is from a painting by the German naturalist artist and ornithologist Anton Göring ( 1836-1905), reproduced as a chromolithograph in our 2-volume set of Our Native Birds of Song and Beauty, by the late-19th-century director of the Milwaukee Public Museum Henry Nehrling (1853-1929), and published in Milwaukee by George Brumder (1839-1910) from 1893-1896.

View more posts from Nehrling’s Our Native Birds.

View more Feathursday posts.

[stickynotebirds]

170. Bobolink

[podartists]

Dolichonyx oryzivorus | Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus | Agelaius phoeniceus | Sturnella magna

Plate XXIX | Die Nordamerikanische Vogelwelt (1891)

[great-and-small]

Spotted one of my favorites in the wetlands- a bobolink!

This little bird may not look like much but they are in fact one of the most impressive travelers in the avian world. The bobolink is the only land bird that regularly migrates to the Galápagos Islands, which is more than two thousand kilometers outside their typical migration route. That’s an astounding journey for such a small pair of wings. I love seeing these birds. I wonder where this little fellow has been?

American poet Emily Dickinson was notably fond of this species and mentioned them often in her work. She nicknamed them “The rowdy of the meadow” due to their lively behavior and distinct song. If you like birds and poetry like me and Emily, I recommend looking up some of her words about this rowdy little bird. I’ll leave you with an excerpt from one of her more well known Bobolink related poems

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church –

I keep it, staying at Home –

With a Bobolink for a Chorister –

And an Orchard, for a Dome –

[lekrow]

bird sketch dump from a very long weekend.

[unrestrained-balderdash-art-blog]

Had to turn the Bobolink into the Ace Pride flag >:)

Reference photo by Andrew Weitzel

[tea-time-terrier]

A Bobolink!!! One of my lowkey bird goals for the year!

[birdblues]

Bobolink

[abirddogmoment]

New lifer for me: a bobolink!

[nonaserpent]

You’ve all heard Elf on the Shelf

Now get ready for

Bonus

[herpsandbirds]

Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), male, family Icteridae, order Passeriformes, central US

photograph by Russel Smith

[peanutkrow]

05/13/23 Bobolink

[dickinzine]

E.D. 1830 (The Emily DickinZINE's version)

sumi ink, watercolor, crayon

"Hey, Taylor Swift, if you want to turn this into a tee-shirt, the design is all yours, gratis..."

with love,

The Editor's of The Emily DickinZINE

[aneighborhoodnaturalist]

Bobolinks nest on the ground in grassy fields.

(Bobolink, male plumage)