Cooperative Living May 2016 - 27

FeatheredFriends | Story and Artwork by Spike Knuth, Contributing Columnist
The Bobolink: Our Upside-Down Bird
I
had seen them each spring when I
was a boy, in the pea fields of
southeastern Wisconsin - birds
going every which way, with shallow,
almost fluttery wing beats.
Years later, while living in and
traveling around Virginia, I would see
them again in the croplands of the
Eastern Shore near Cheriton and Cape
Charles in late April.
Then years after that, a good friend in
Beaverdam, Virginia, told me he sees
these birds in spring when fields are
planted in alfalfa. In the fields, while on
migration, bobolinks are constantly
moving and chasing about, singing their
complicated, jangling song; the males
flashing their unusual plumage of white
on top and black below.
The bobolink is a small member of
the family Icteridae, the blackbird
family. Its scientific name is Dolichonyx
oryzivorus, which in Latin and Greek
means " long-clawed rice eater. "
Bobolinks arrive in spring from as far
away as Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.
They fly some 6,000 miles to as far
north as Nova Scotia on the east coast
and British Columbia on the west.
Most enter the United States between
Florida and east Texas, flying almost
directly north before fanning out.
They normally migrate at night and
reach their more northerly breeding
grounds in April and May. Males arrive
a few days to a week before the females,
often in the same areas each year. A
few flights go over the Bahamas then
up through the Atlantic states east of
the Alleghenies.
During migration, they congregate
in large flocks on favorable feeding
grounds. Once they arrive, a lot of
chasing and singing goes on; males
flying back and forth, hovering, on
shallow, fluttery wing beats, uttering
their bubbly, cheerful, jangling,
screechy songs.
Usually, bobolinks will perch in tall
grasses, shrubs, small trees or other
lofty vegetation. Their call is a simple
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" chup " or " pink. " Males will fan their
tails or fluff up their feathers to attract
females. Bobolinks measure 6.5 to 7.5
inches. The males are black with a buffy
hind neck, a white rump and back, with
white upper tail coverts and shoulders
tinged with gray. Females are light buffyolive
with streaks of black and brown on
their backs. Their underparts are light
buffy-olive, buffy to yellowish on their
breast, paler on the throat. In fall the
males molt into a plumage similar to the
females, although darker with some dull
black on the breast.
The bobolink's favored nesting terrain
is fields of grasses, hay, oats, wheat,
alfalfa, clover and other crops. The nest
starts with a concealed depression in a
field, usually with clumps of taller plants
and grasses, or sometimes in the dense
weed stalks themselves. A flimsy nest is
built with plant stems, coarse grass,
leaves and lined with finer grasses. Three
to seven eggs are laid, pale pearl-gray or
pale rufous in color, with markings of
dark brown, chestnut and deep purple.
In the fields, while on
migration, bobolinks
are constantly
moving and chasing
about, singing their
complicated,
jangling song; the
males flashing their
unusual plumage
of white on top
and black below.
The bobolink is seen in Virginia during the springtime when fields are planted in alfalfa.
Incubation takes 10 to 13 days with
the young fledging in another 10 to 14
days. A male may have mated with three
or four females, but seems to have a
favored first nest and often does much of
the feeding of the young, which receive
mostly insects. The young leave the nest
and remain close for a while, scrambling
around in the grass until they can fly.
Once on the wing, young and adult alike
move to grassy marshes, lake and river
shores, with the adults undergoing
molting. Bobolinks feed on all manner of
insects during the spring and summer;
including weevils, grasshoppers, beetles,
caterpillars, spiders and ants. Towards
fall, they turn to grass seeds, oats, grains
and other plant seeds.
Bobolinks got the name " ricebird " for
their foraging on rice. As they migrated
into Louisiana and surrounding ricegrowing
states, they would feed on the
new rice plants and seeds. Their
population decline started in the early
1900s when farms produced less hay and
oats as horses were replaced by
machinery. Historically, in South
Carolina, when that area was known for
its rice (Carolina Gold), bobolinks were
hunted day and night when they made
their migration stops. They were shot
during the day and clubbed at night by
torchlight. Actually, most were taken for
food and for selling in the market along
with rails, not for protecting the rice.
They were also called " butterbirds "
because they were so fattened up and
apparently they are still hunted today in
Jamaica. Other names include reed bird,
skunk blackbird, meadow wink, May
bird, meadow bird, and upside-down
bird because of its white-over-black color
scheme.
Fall migrations begin in July and
August. Here in the mid-Atlantic their
fall journey takes them offshore, then
down through the Bahamas, Cuba and
Jamaica over the Caribbean. By
November they clear the United States as
they fly 6,000 miles back to South
America. 
May 2016 | Cooperative Living | 25

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Cooperative Living May 2016

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