Dickcissel Photos

Photography by Terry Sohl

My Favorite: One of the most recognizable sounds when driving on a country road on a summer day in South Dakota...the chirping song of a Dickcissel. They're very common in many parts of the state, including here in eastern South Dakota where much of the "habitat" is limited to corn and soybean fields. The photo below was taken on May 28th, 2018 in Minnehaha County, South Dakota, and perfectly represents a Dickcissel in my mind...a small, colorful, charismatic bird, singing his heart out from the top of a high perch.

Dickcissel - Spiza americana


Dickcissel 1	Dickcissel 2	Dickcissel 3	Dickcissel 4
July 11th, 2009	June 5th, 2006	June 5th, 2005	June 5th, 2005
Lyman County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Bird singing from end of dead branch	Bird posing on top of dead branch	Vertical of bird on top of old fence post	Dickcissel clinging to an old weed stem

Dickcissel 5	Dickcissel 6	Dickcissel 7	Dickcissel 8
June 5th, 2005	June 5th, 2006	June 5th, 2006	July 31st, 2008
Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Bird perched on an old weed stem	Unusual pose at top of a dead tree branch	Profile from top of a dead tree branch	Sunny day profile on top of a dead tree branch

Dickcissel 9	Dickcissel 10	Dickcissel 11	Dickcissel 12
July 31st, 2008	July 31st, 2008	July 11th, 2009	July 11th, 2009
Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Fort Pierre National Grasslands, S. Dakota	Fort Pierre National Grasslands, S. Dakota
Vertical of bird on top of a dead branch	Profile of a bird on the top of a dead branch	Dickcissel singing its heart out on a branch	Dickcissel perched on a branch

Dickcissel 13	Dickcissel 14	Dickcissel 15	Dickcissel 16
May 28th, 2010	August 17th, 2013	May 28th, 2018	June 7th, 2020
Good Earth State Park, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Bird perched in wildflower	Dickcissel perched on top of small willow	Vertical of bird singing on top of a bush	Dickcissel singing from top of an old fence post

Dickcissel 17	Dickcissel 18	Dickcissel 19	Dickcissel 20
June 7th, 2020	June 7th, 2020	June 7th, 2020	June 7th, 2020
Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Dickcissel singing from a barbed wire fence	Bird perched on a barbed wire fence	Bird perched on top of an old fence post	Bird perched on top of an old fence post

Dickcissel 21	Dickcissel 22	Dickcissel 23	Dickcissel 24
June 7th, 2020	June 7th, 2020	June 7th, 2020	June 7th, 2020
Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Western Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Bird singing from top of wooden fence post	Bird singing from top of metal fence post	Dickcissel profile on top of wooden fence post	Bird perched on barbed wire

Dickcissel 25	Dickcissel 26	Dickcissel 27
July 7th, 2019	July 7th, 2019	July 4th, 2020
Western Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Western Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Profile of Dickcissel on barbed wire fence	Profile of Dickcissel on weed stem	Bird perched on top of eastern red cedar