dickcissel

[dik-sis-uhl]

noun

1. a bunting, Spiza americana, of the eastern and central U.S., having a brownish back streaked with black and a yellowish breast and in the male a black patch on the throat.

Word History and Origins

Origin of dickcissel¹

First recorded in 1885–90; said to be imitative of its call

Example Sentences

He also detected the dickcissel, a grassland bird that I have never seen in our area.

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Dickcissel birds and blackbirds dart about to gather food, mate and protect nests.

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A chorus of dickcissel birds sang as blackbirds dipped, dived and screeched at humans strolling dangerously close to their nests.

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The specimen that Audubon used to paint Townsend’s Bunting is now in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, identified as Townsend’s Dickcissel, but no bird exactly like it has been reported, Dr. Olson, an authority on Audubon’s work, noted in an email.

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Ornithologists suggest that it is either a mutation of the Dickcissel or a hybrid of Dickcissel and Blue Grosbeak, she said.

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