Yellow-winged Blackbird

About the Yellow-winged Blackbird

The yellow-winged blackbird (Agelasticus thilius) is a species of bird in the family Icteridae, the oropendolas, New World orioles, and New World blackbirds. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.

The yellow-winged blackbird was formally described in 1782 with the binomial Turdus Thilius [sic]. Genus Agelasticus had been erected in 1851 and in 1855 Turdus thilius was designated as its type species and renamed Agelasticus thilius. However, A. thilius was later assigned at different times to genera Agelaius and Chrysomus. By the 1990s those two genera were beginning to be recognized as polyphyletic, and early in the twenty-first century Agelasticus was resurrected for the yellow-winged blackbird and two other species.

The yellow-winged blackbird has three subspecies, the nominate A. t. thilius (Molina, 1782), A. t. alticola (Todd, 1932), and A. t. petersii (Laubmann, 1934). Male yellow-winged blackbirds average 17.9 cm (7.0 in) long. Males weigh an average of 33.5 g (1.2 oz) and females average about 29 g (1.0 oz). The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males of the nominate subspecies are almost... Wikipedia →