When the south wind wafts the soft cumulus clouds across the May prairies the farmer people, released from winter imprisonment, feel life renewed. In true Bobolink ecstasy the WHITEWINGS float overhead, flooding the air with impetuous melody. The music may lack Bobolink intonation but after a bleak winter the listeners are not critical. A dozen Whitewings, dark flecks against the blue, are giving all they have and who would ask for more? Even in strong winds they swing aloft, fighting and singing with intense energy while the females "are lying down below!"
Singing ceases after the breeding season is over but in winter on the southern prairies of Texas the flocks fly over, voicing a cheery whoo-ee with a rising inflection quite alluring and so distinctive that the listener is in no doubt about identification.
Great Plains between Missouri River and Rockies. North to parallel 49. South in winter to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and southern California.