On our beginner bird walk this morning Lisa and I and three visitors saw
a large flock of blackbirds fly into a couple treetops. We were almost
to the Sherwood platform. They just did not seem to fit "Starlings" .
Longer tails and they sounded different. Getting the scope on them we
saw that it was almost all Rusty Blackbirds. Most in nonbreeding
plummage. We had good light on them and there were a few birds still in
black plummage. We saw yellow eyes on almost all the birds. I did find
a couple female Red-winged Blackbirds. They were very boldly
streaked/striped beneath and had the light eyebrow, dark eyes. We had a
good amount of time to look at them before they took off. The birds were
beautiful in their winter plummage, and the lighting was perfect.
They later came around a second time but landed even closer to us in a
couple treetops. They were chattering as they flew in, and did sound
different than a group of just Red-winged BB would sound. Another
person near us had Merlin going and he said it showed Rusty BB,
Red-winged and Starling.
I counted at least 70 birds in the one treetop and there were about 10
more in another. Again we got the scope on them and everyone was able
to look at the different plummages. There was a White Pine next to this
tree, and several birds flew to this tree, which was loaded with cones,
and started feeding on or around the cones.
I hope they hang around so others might find them. I have never seen
so many Rusty's at once in winter plummage. I am sure there could be
variations on these Rusty plummages. It was really exciting to see so many.
Gladys Birdsall
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