Birds Identified: Rusty Blackbird
You can search Google Images for images of this bird.
Rusty Blackbird has these characteristics:
- Walking, wading, running
- About same size as robin
- Bill thick, as thick or thicker at base than length of bill
- Mostly blackish, or dark gray, bluish black, etc.
- Underparts plain
- North summer (June through August)
- South winter (November through February)
- Wood habitat
- Field habitat
- Marsh habitat
- Perched high (generally above middle of trees when perched or foraging)
- Perched low (generally below middle of trees when perched or foraging)
- On ground (walking, wading, running, hopping, or resting on ground)
- Jerks tail or body (repeated dipping of body, or flipping or pumping of tail)
- Occurs in flocks (from 4 or 5 to thousands)
- Rasping harsh calls
- Smooth, clear calls (can be imitated by human singing voice or whistling)
- Harsh or buzzy song (pitch intermediate; rasping, buzzing, or grating quality)
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Eric Haines,
erich@acm.org