Bobolink

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Dolichonyx oryzivorus

Type: bird

Status:

Species Guide

Bobolink

Dolichonyx oryzivorus

Species Type: bird

Conservation Status:

Identification

The male bobolink is the only North American bird that is black underneath and white on back. It almost looks like it put its clothes on backwards. During the breeding season, the male is black overall with a creamy nape and hindneck, a white rump, and white scapulars. The female is a drab buff color with dark brown streaking on the back, sides, and rump. She also has dark stripes on the head. During the non-breeding season, males resemble females. Immature bobolinks are more yellow than females and lack streaking on the sides of their bodies. All ages and sexes have a short, pointed bill and pointed tail feathers.

Their call is highly unique, a bubbly “bobo-o-link” that sounds more like a video game than a bird. Many people compare it to the mechanical beeps of R2-D2 in Star Wars. Bobolinks are often heard before they are seen, calling from the grasslands in New Jersey and beyond.

Distribution & Habitat

Distribution and Habitat

Bobolinks breed in southern Canada and the northern United States, from the Atlantic Coast states south to West Virginia and west to Oregon and Washington. Bobolinks are long-distance migrants, traveling over 6,000 miles to their South American wintering grounds in Brazil and Argentina. This 12,000+ mile round-trip flight is one of the longest migrations by any North American passerine.

Breeding bobolinks occur in low-intensity agricultural habitats, such as hayfields and pastures, during the breeding season. They may also inhabit fallow fields and meadows of grasses, forbs, and wildflowers. Larger sized fields support higher densities of nesting pairs of bobolinks but bobolinks may nest in grasslands of 5 to 10 acres. In late June and early July, post-breeding bobolinks concentrate in freshwater and coastal marshes where they remain for several weeks to molt. From early August through late September, a second influx of migrating bobolinks occurs along the Atlantic and Delaware Bay coasts.

Diet

Diet

The diet of the bobolink varies seasonally, with individuals consuming both animals and plants during different times of the year. In the spring and summer, insects play a major part in their diet. They may supplement their diet with seeds. They feed their young invertebrates such as caterpillars, grasshoppers, wasps, beetles, ants, spiders, etc. At other times of the year, bobolinks eat primarily plant matter including rice, seeds, oats, grain, and corn.