Rusty Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird
Male breeding
- Dark overall
- Slender bill
- Pale yellow eye
- © 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, June 2000
Rusty Blackbird
Female nonbreeding
- Buffy breast and eyebrow
- Rusty on back and crown
- Dark feathers around pale eye
- © Roger Garber, October 2010
Rusty Blackbird
Adult male
- Dark glossy overall
- Most of rusty feathers edges have worn off by spring
- © Robin Arnold, OH, Port Clinton, April 2010
Rusty Blackbird
Male nonbreeding
- Extensive rusty feather tips on head, breast and back
- Breast and head darker than nonbreeding female
- © Stuart Oikawa, Fort Whyte, Manitoba, Canada, November 2010
Rusty Blackbird
Adult male
- By spring only some rusty feather edges remain
- © Dave Blinder, NJ, Hanover, April 2010
Rusty Blackbird
Nonbreeding flock
- Females lighter overall than male (middle)
- Show rusty feather edges in fall, winter, spring
- © JMK Birder, CT, Tolland, December 2010
Similar Species
Immature
- Long legs
- In grass; Rusty Blackbird prefers swamps
- © Cameron Rognan, July 2005
Female
- Plain dark brown overall
- Lacks pale eyebrow of Rusty Blackbird
- Dark eye, unlike yellow eye of Rusty Blackbird
- © Ron Kube, South of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, May 2009
Male
- Dark overall, with browner head
- Dark eye
- Short, thick bill
- © maia bird, December 2008
Breeding male
- Similar to breeding male Rusty Blackbird
- Very glossy black overall
- Long, club-shaped tail
- Big, thick bill
- © Matt MacGillivray , Ontario, Canada, May 2008
Female
- Thicker bill than Rusty Blackbird
- Lacks rusty feather edges
- © Darin Ziegler, Colorado Springs, CO, April 2009
Nonbreeding male
- Shorter tail than Rusty Blackbird
- Stouter bill than Rusty Blackbird
- Prominent yellow wing coverts
- © Darin Ziegler, Colorado Springs, CO, October 2008
Female
- Rusty feather edges, but heavier streaks on body
- Shorter bill than Rusty Blackbird
- Shorter tail
- © rainriver, Ridgefield, WA, April 2007