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Bobolink | Daily Animal Facts

Animal profile

Bobolink

Dolichonyx oryzivorus

AvesTall-grass meadows, hayfields and prairie in the breeding seasonLeast Concern

Field profile

The bobolink is a grassland icterid, the breeding male black below with a straw-coloured nape and white back, the reverse of most birds' countershading. It undertakes one of the longest migrations of any North American songbird, reaching the grasslands of Argentina and Paraguay.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2025-01-28

Bobolink

The bobolink flies to Argentina and back yearly

Bobolinks leave hayfields in Canada and the northern United States and winter in the grasslands of southern South America, a round trip on the order of twenty thousand kilometres. Individuals return to the same breeding fields across successive years.

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