Purple blackbird
| Purple blackbird | ||||||||||||
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Purple Blackbird ( Euphagus cyanocephalus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Euphagus cyanocephalus | ||||||||||||
| ( Wagler , 1829) |
The purple blackbird ( Euphagus cyanocephalus ) is a North American songbird from the family of blackbirds (Icteridae).
features
In the magnificent dress , the yellow-eyed male is completely black with a purple-violet shimmer on the head and neck and a greenish sheen on the body. In contrast, it shimmers less in the plain dress . The female is gray-brown on the top and a little lighter on the underside and has brown eyes.
Occurrence
The purple blackbird breeds in southern Canada, large parts of the USA and winters from the Midwest and the southern USA to Mexico. He lives in meadows, fields and urban areas. Especially in the east he is a frequent guest in gardens. Where the distribution area overlaps with that of the purple gray gray , it lives more in open areas, while the gray gray prefers habitats in the city or on the outskirts.
behavior
The bird likes to join together in large flocks , also with other species such as the yellow-billed lobster . Due to its massive occurrence, it is sometimes viewed as a land scourge . He looks for seeds and invertebrates in shallow water or on the bottom. Sometimes insects are caught in flight.
Breeding biology
The purple blackbird nests in loose colonies, which can comprise a few, but also up to 100 breeding pairs. The female lays three to seven eggs in a misshapen, ball-like nest in a bush or tree, which are incubated for about two weeks. After around two weeks, the young can fledge.
literature
- Colin Harrison & Alan Greensmith: Birds. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London 1993,2000, ISBN 3-831-00785-3
- Bryan Richard: Birds. Parragon, Bath, ISBN 1-405-45506-3
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Euphagus cyanocephalus in the Internet Bird Collection
- Euphagus cyanocephalus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2014.