Bobolink
Bobolink populations are rapidly declining due to numerous factors, such as agricultural intensification and habitat loss; they are considered threatened in Canada, and are at risk throughout their range.Adult females are mostly light brown with black streaks on the back and flanks, and dark stripes on the head; their wings and tails are darker.Although bobolinks migrate long distances, they have rarely been sighted in Europe — like many vagrants from the Americas, the majority of records are from the British Isles.[9][10][11] One of the species' main migration routes is through Jamaica, where they are called "butter-birds" and at least historically were collected as food, having fattened up on the aforementioned rice.This is presumed to be due to many new bison herds being managed more as livestock than wildlife, often kept in fenced pastures and protected from predation, which encourages overgrazing, trampling, and rapid multiplying.The bird is also one of the many important ornithological references in the poem "Pale Fire" by the fictional poet John Shade, part of Vladimir Nabokov's novel of the same name.[24] The bobolink is also mentioned in the film The Mouse on the Moon in connection with the fictional European microstate of Grand Fenwick, where oddly the bird is apparently common.
PreꞒConservation statusLeast ConcernIUCN 3.1Scientific classificationEukaryotaAnimaliaChordataPasseriformesIcteridaeSwainsonBinomial nameLinnaeusSynonymsNew World blackbirdUnited StatesCanadaSouth AmericaParaguayArgentinaBoliviaAncient GreekMidwestern United Statesthe Canadian MaritimesmigratesEuropeBritish IslesSouth CarolinaGulf StatesJamaicaGalápagos IslandsDrymaria cordataNorth AmericapolygynousinsectsarmywormsMythimna unipunctaSpodoptera frugiperdapest controlloss of habitatVermontprairiefledgehorsesreintroductionAmerican bisonlivestockovergrazingEmily DickinsonEdgar Allan PoeWilliam Cullen BryantHarold ArlenYip HarburgBloomer GirlPale FireJohn ShadeVladimir NabokovSophie JewettThe Mouse on the MoonmicrostateGrand FenwickCamelotAlan Jay LernerIUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesOxford English DictionaryOxford University PressBibcodeLondonSan DiegoAcademic PressUniversity of Florida Entomology DepartmentBorlaug, Norman E.Food and Agriculture OrganizationWikispeciesWayback MachineInternet Bird Collectionfinches, sparrows and tanagersPasseriPasseridaPasseroideaEstrildidaeAmadinaAmandavaOrtygospizaChloebiaErythruraEstrildinaeBrunhildaCoccopygiaCryptospizaDelacourellaEstrildaGlaucestrildaMandingoaNesocharisNigritaParmoptilaClytospizaEuschistospizaGranatinaHypargosLagonostictaPyrenestesPytiliaSpermophagaUraeginthusEuodiceLepidopygiaLonchuraMayrimuniaSpermestesAidemosyneBathildaEmblemaHeteromuniaNeochmiaOreostruthusPoephilaStagonopleuraStizopteraTaeniopygiaPasseridaeCarpospizaGymnorisHypocryptadiusMontifringilla