Dickcissels are open country songbirds that are common summer residents in the American Midwest and the south-central U.S.; they were once common in the Southeast as well.
Favoring prairie, weedy fields and farmlands, these songsters are generally heard before they are seen, typically singing from fences, shrubs or various reeds and grasses. Though usually common across their summer range, their numbers in any given area vary widely from year to year; this summer, dickcissels have been especially abundant at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, on the Missouri River floodplain.
Feasting on both insects and seeds, these distinctive songbirds nest on the ground, usually in areas with dense vegetation. By late summer, dickcissels begin their long migration to Central or South America, not to return until late spring.
