Yellow-winged Blackbird - BirdForum Opus

Male
Photo © by Jamfaraco
Passagem, Laguna-SC/ Brazil, January 2007

Agelasticus thilius

Identification

Female
Photo © by Luis R
Batuco Wetland,Santiago, Chile, August 2016

17·9 cm (7 in)
Male

• Black overall plumage
• Yellow shoulders and underwing coverts
  

Female

• Heavily streaked brownish plumage
• Pale supercilium
• Yellow shoulder patch

Distribution

South America: found in South Brazil, Uruguay, central Argentina, central Chile, Bolivia and Peru.

Taxonomy

It has been placed in Chrysomus or in Agelasticus.

Subspecies

Immature, probably male
Photo © by nkgray
Parque Bicentenario, Santiago, Chile, June 2013

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

• A. t. alticola:

Andes of south-eastern Peru (Cuzco) to north-western Bolivia

• A. t. thilius:

• Andes of Chile (Atacama to Valdivia) and south-western Argentina

• A. t. petersii:

• Paraguay to extreme south-eastern Brazil, Uruguay and northern Argentina

Habitat

Swamps, intertidal marshes, pastureland always close to water.

Behaviour

Diet

Female, subspecies thilius
Photo © by Luis R
Santo Domingo, Valparaiso, Chile, June 2018

Their diet consists of insects and seeds.

Breeding

Monogamous; colonial breeders. The female builds the nest in tall grass close to water. The clutch consists of 2-4 eggs which are incubated by the female for 13 days.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved September 2016)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Yellow-winged Blackbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 4 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Yellow-winged_Blackbird

External Links

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