Rusty Blackbird
© Vicki Miller
Published:
January 30, 2012
A female Rusty Blackbird perches in subscriber Vicki Miller's backyard in Kelseyville, California. She photographed the bird with a Canon 7D and a 100-400mm lens in October 2011 and posted the shot to our
Rarities Gallery.
In winter, the species is typically seen in the Midwest and South. The bird in Vicki's yard represented the first record of Rusty Blackbird for Lake County, in north-central California. Since 2006, the state has averaged three sightings of Rusty Blackbird each year, says Guy McCaskie, secretary of the
California Bird Records Committee.
The blackbird's population has declined considerably since about 1970. From 2009 to 2011, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center conducted a census known as the Rusty Blackbird Blitz to learn more about the bird's wintering sites. The results are described
here.
See a Rusty Blackbird in Ontario
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