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Bobolink
The Bobolink, Dolichonyx oryzivorus, is a small New World blackbird, the only member of genus Dolichonyx.
Adults are 16-18 cm long with a short finch-like bill. The adult male is mainly black with a creamy nape and white scapulars, lower back and rump. The adult female is mainly light brown with black streaks on the back and flanks and dark stripes on the head; their wings and tail are darker.
Their breeding habitat is open grassy fields, especially hay fields, across North America. The female lays 5 to 6 eggs in a cup nest on the ground, usually well-hidden in dense vegetation. Both parents feed the young birds.
These birds migrate to Argentina and Paraguay. They often migrate in flocks, feeding on cultivated grains and rice, which leads to them being considered a pest by farmers in some areas. These long distance migrants occur as very rare vagrants to western Europe.
Bobolinks forage on or near the ground and mainly eat seeds and insects.
The male sings a bright bubbly song in flight which gave this species its common name.
The numbers of these birds are declining due to loss of habitat. Originally, they were found in tall grass prairie and other open areas with dense grass. Although hay fields are suitable nesting habitat, fields which are harvested multiple times in a season may not allow sufficient time for the young birds to fledge. This species increased in numbers when horses were the primary mode of transportation, requiring larger supplies of hay.
Emily Dickinson penned many poems about the bird, such as the following one:
The Bobolink is gone - The Rowdy of the Meadow -
And no one swaggers now but me -
The Presbyterian Birds can now resume the Meeting
He gaily interrupted that overflowing Day
When opening the Sabbath in their afflictive Way
He bowed to Heaven instead of Earth
And shouted Let us pray -
(The text follows that in R.W. Franklin's edition; the numbering is 1620 in Franklin's edition while 1591 in Thomas H. Johnson's.)
External links
*Burroughs Hears the Bobolink's New Note. As the Naturalist John Burroughs seems to have been well aware, bird-songs change and evolve over time.