Rusty Blackbird

The Rusty Blackbird is a boreal-forest specialist that has suffered one of the steepest population declines of any North American land bird over the past several decades, dropping by an estimated 85 to 95 percent, for reasons that remain only partly understood. Breeding males in spring are glossy black with pale yellow eyes, but by fall the plumage of both sexes becomes edged with warm rust-brown tones, giving the species its name.

Females are duller and grayer-brown than males even in breeding plumage, and in winter both sexes show a distinctly scaled, rusty-edged appearance quite different from their glossy spring look.

Key field marks

• Breeding male: glossy black plumage with pale yellow eyes
• Nonbreeding/fall plumage: rusty brown feather edges giving a scaled appearance, buffy eyebrow stripe
• Female: duller grayish-brown overall
• Slimmer build and thinner bill than a grackle

Similar species

Brewer's Blackbird lacks the rusty fall/winter feather edging and shows a cleaner glossy appearance with a purple-green sheen in males; female Brewer's is more uniformly plain gray-brown without the scaled rusty look. Common Grackle is larger with a longer, keeled tail.

Habitat

Rusty Blackbirds breed in wet boreal forest habitats, including bogs, muskeg, and forested wetlands, often near beaver ponds or slow-moving streams. In winter they favor wet woodlands, swamps, and flooded bottomland forest.

Range

The species breeds across the boreal forest zone of Canada and Alaska. It winters primarily in the southeastern United States, in wet forested habitats from the mid-Atlantic south to the Gulf Coast.

Migration

Rusty Blackbirds are medium- to long-distance migrants, traveling between boreal breeding grounds and southeastern wintering areas; the causes of their dramatic population decline are thought to include loss of wetland habitat on both breeding and wintering grounds.

Behavior

Rusty Blackbirds forage in and around shallow water and wet leaf litter, flipping leaves to find insects and other invertebrates, and also eat seeds, particularly outside the breeding season; they are often found in small flocks in wooded wetlands.

Voice

The song is a squeaky, creaking series of notes, somewhat similar to a rusty hinge, though generally softer and more varied than Yellow-headed Blackbird's harsher song.

Nesting

Nests are built in shrubs or low conifers, often near water, constructed as a bulky cup. Females lay 3-5 pale blue-green eggs with dark markings.