Bonanza Bird #13: Dickcissel
Birds fly when you're having fun ... we're already at our 13th species in this year's Birdorable Bonanza. Today’s bird is the Dickcissel! Read more »
The Dickcissel is a prairie bird that breeds across parts of central North America. These little sparrow-like birds migrate south to parts of Central and South America during the winter months.
Breeding male Dickcissels are colorful with yellow, rust, black and white all featuring in their plumage. In their color pattern they somewhat resemble another grassland bird, the Eastern Meadowlark.
Dickcissels feed primarly on insects and seeds. They are named for their unique song, which sounds like it is saying "dick! dick! ciss ciss ciss."
The Dickcissel is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Birds fly when you're having fun ... we're already at our 13th species in this year's Birdorable Bonanza. Today’s bird is the Dickcissel! Read more »