On a recent overcast morning while out filming wildlife for the pond film, a strange little character caught my attention. She was feeding in the seaweed like there was no tomorrow. Her conical shaped bill made me think she was some type of blackbird but she was considerably larger than the brownish female Red-winged Blackbirds I typically see foraging in the seaweed. The Red-winged Blackbirds are usually stuffing a bunch of insects in their beaks then flying off to their nests. Not this one, she appeared as though she had not eaten for days and days. Her plain brown feathered back was camouflaged beautifully in the seaweed. She suddenly turned and faced in my direction and I got to see her very cool feather patterning, a vivid yellow breast and yellowish/rusty mottled head. I lingered and filmed her for quite awhile but the footage is not that as exciting as i would have liked. She only very occasionally paused her feverish foraging to preen for a brief moment.

What fun to return to my desk and discover she is the Yellow-headed Blackbird and a very rare visitor to Massachusetts, to the entire eastern half of the country for that matter.  I checked in on her over the next several days and again she was eating non-stop, even while it was raining. She departed during Friday night’s storm and I hope so much she finds her way back to the central part of the country.  Please write and let me know if she lands in your neighborhood.

Photo of male Yellow-headed Blackbirds, from wikicommons media.

Photo credit:  USFWS Mountain-Prairie – Yellow-headed black birds at Cokeville Meadows, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48171686

Yellow-headed Blackbird range – blue = breeding range; red = wintering grounds