By Alan Vernon (Flickr: Male Yellow-headed Blackbird) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Yellow-headed Blackbird Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
Status.
Category D and E
Native Range
North America. Breeds in much of central and western United States and Canada and winters further south into central America.
Conservation Status
Least Concern
British Occurrence
NBN atlas has 1 records as at end 2024. Map Here, summary below:
2003, Woodingdean, East Sussex, VC14
BOURC Summary
Male, Leighton Moss, Lancashire, 4-10 August 1944
male, Seaton Burn, Northumberland, 17 July to 14 August 1965
male, Sandbach Flashes, Cheshire, 20 September 1970
male, Unst and Yell, Shetland, 12-13 May 1987
male Fair Isle, Shetland. 26-30 April 1990
Correct identification was accepted but the likelihood of transatlantic vagrancy is considered unlikely and the species is kept in captivity here and on the continent. However the Shetland bird was considered a possible genuine vagrant and so the species is placed in category D as well as E.
