Nesting of the Yellow-Headed Blackbird in Douglas County, Kansas

Abstract

by HENRY W. SETZER AND R. L. MONTELL University of Kansas, Lawrence A breeding of Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus Bonaparte was observed in Douglas County, Kansas, in the spring of 1945. Because of the paucity of information on the breeding status of this species in Kansas it seems desirable to present our data. Snow (1872) regarded this form as abundant. Goss (1886 and 1891) recorded this species as nesting in quite a colony along Crooked Creek, Meade County, Kansas. He reported it as occurring also in other parts of the state but did not give exact localities. Linsdale and Hall (1927) noted flocks in Douglas County on April 24 and 25, 1920, and on April 25, 1922, but did not list them as breeders. Long (1940) listed this species as a rare summer resident in Kansas, and Hibbard and Rinker (1943) mentioned it as a breeding bird in Meade County. Harris (1919) listed colonies breeding at Armour and Bean lakes, Platte County, Missouri. The collections of the Museum of Natural History of the University of Kansas contain fifteen conventional study skins and two mounted specimens of the Yellow-headed Blackbird from Kansas. These specimens are from Norton, Wallace, Douglas, Pratt, Morton, Meade and Barber Counties. Of these counties, only Douglas, Pratt, Morton and Meade are represented by birds taken in the breeding season; the other records are of birds taken in periods of migration. As may be seen from the above, with the exception of those in Douglas County, the breeding birds were known previously only from the western counties.