Rice Bird: Bobolink The bubbling song of the Bobolink, which has inspired poets from Emily Dickinson to William Cullen Bryant, ushers in spring across grasslands of the northern United States and southern Canada. Unlike less-conspicuous grassland breeders such as the Eastern Meadowlark or Grasshopper Sparrow, the male Bobolink, with his flashy black-and-white breeding plumage, seems to be wearing a “backwards tuxedo.” No other North American songbird is black underneath and white on the back. The Bobolink is also known as the "Rice Bird" – but why? | |