The Dickcissel looks a bit like a miniature meadowlark crossed with a sparrow — a chunky grassland bird with a yellow breast, a rusty shoulder patch, a gray face, and, on the breeding male, a bold black bib. Its name comes straight from its song, an insistent, buzzy "dick-dick-cissel" that the male repeats tirelessly from a fence wire, weed stalk, or hay bale through the summer heat. Females and young are plainer and more sparrow-like, lacking the black bib but keeping a touch of yellow and the rusty shoulder.
A bird of the grasslands, hayfields, and weedy fields, the Dickcissel is famously erratic at the edges of its range: it is centered on the prairies to the west and appears in Michigan in irregular, unpredictable numbers, common and widespread in some years and nearly absent in others, tracking shifting habitat and food conditions. When they do arrive, males sing conspicuously from open perches in grasslands and old fields. In winter, huge flocks gather in South America, sometimes coming into conflict with agriculture there.
Feeds on seeds and waste grain for much of the year, gathered from grassland and field vegetation, and takes insects heavily during the breeding season, especially to feed young. On its South American wintering grounds it forms enormous flocks that feed on grain and grass seeds.
That insistent, buzzy "dick-dick-cissel," repeated tirelessly through summer, is a male Dickcissel. The song, sung from open perches in grasslands and fields, gives the bird its name.
The Dickcissel is centered on the western prairies and is erratic at the edge of its range in Michigan, appearing in irregular numbers that track shifting habitat and food conditions. It can be locally common one year and nearly absent the next.
Look for a chunky, sparrow-like grassland bird with a yellow breast, a rusty shoulder patch, and a gray face; breeding males add a bold black bib, recalling a small meadowlark. Females are plainer with just a hint of yellow.
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