The Yellow-headed Blackbird, although most numerous in prairie wetlands, is a conspicuous breeding bird in deep-water, emergent wetlands throughout nonforested regions of western North America. Its generic and specific name, Xanthocephalus, means "yellow head," a tribute to the male's striking plumage. Highly social, these large-bodied blackbirds are polygynous, nesting on grouped territories. Postbreeding birds eat mostly grains, often forming large flocks that forage in uplands and roost in wetlands. Flocks migrate to the southern United States and Mexico for the winter.

The first detailed description of this species was by Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte ( Bonaparte, C. L. (1825b). American ornithology, or the natural history of birds inhabiting the United States, not given by Wilson. Vol. 1. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey. Close Bonaparte 1825b), although Thomas Say ( Swenk, M. H. (1933). The exact type localities of the birds discovered in Nebraska by Thomas Say on the Long Expedition. Neb. Bird Rev. no. 1:33-35. Close Swenk 1933) and Sir John Richardson ( Richardson, J. (1831). Fauna Boreali-Americana. Part 2: the birds. London: J. Murray. Close Richardson 1831) apparently collected the species in 1820. Its current scientific name was first used by Jordan ( Jordan, D. S. (1884). Manual of the vertebrates of the northern United States, etc. 4th ed. McClurg and Co., Chicago: Jansen. Close Jordan 1884). George Ammann ( Ammann, G. A. (1938). The life-history and distribution of the Yellow-headed Blackbird. Phd Thesis, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Close Ammann 1938) and R. W. Fautin ( Fautin, R. W. (1941b). Incubation studies of the Yellow-headed Blackbird. Wilson Bull. no. 53:107-122. Close Fautin 1941b, Fautin, R. W. (1941a). Development of nestling Yellow-headed Blackbirds. Auk no. 58:215-232. Close Fautin 1941a) provided early detailed accounts of breeding Yellow-headed Blackbirds. Subsequent studies by Willson ( Willson, M. F. (1966a). Breeding ecology of the Yellow-headed Blackbird. Ecol. Monogr. no. 36:51-77. Close Willson 1966a), Orians ( Orians, G. H. (1980). Some adaptations of marsh nesting blackbirds. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press. Close Orians 1980, Orians, G. H. (1985). Blackbirds of the Americas. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press. Close Orians 1985), and others have expanded our knowledge of the breeding biology of this species. Detailed behavioral accounts have been produced by Nero ( Nero, R. W. (1963b). Comparative behavior of the Yellow-headed Blackbird, Red-winged Blackbird, and other icterids. Wilson Bull. no. 75:376-413. Close Nero 1963b) and Orians and Christman ( Orians, G. H. and G. M. Christman. (1968). A comparative study of the behavior of Red-winged, Tricolored, and Yellow-headed Blackbirds. Univ. California Publ. Zool. no. 84. Close Orians and Christman 1968). We have made extensive use of these studies, and readers are referred to them for more detail and discussion.