When I first saw the two birds in the grass near the marsh, I did a double-take.
They weren’t Eastern Meadowlarks, they didn’t have the right coloring.
Or the type of bill a meadowlark would have.
As I peered through my binoculars and watched the birds’ behavior, I finally figured it out.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds!
Not male Yellow-headed Blackbirds with their distinctive bright yellow heads, which I last saw in May 2019 at Howard Marsh near Bono, Ohio.
The two birds were females with a muted yellow color on their face and top of breast.
I always observe Yellow-headed Blackbirds in the same marshy areas that Red-headed Blackbirds reside.
What I didn’t know was that Yellow-headed Blackbirds are dominant to Red-headed Blackbirds.
According to All About Birds, the Yellow-headed Blackbird displaces the smaller Red-headed Blackbird from prime nesting spots and may attract up to eight females to nest in his prime nesting reeds.
About five minutes later, I saw a male Yellow-headed Blackbird perched on top of a reed in the marsh.
