Today is the first official day of spring, in terms of ornithology. This means that the Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz is not far off. Spanning from March 10-April 20, 2016 marks the third and last year of an effort to determine spring migratory details of "The Rusty." The species has declined up to 95% in the past half-century, and in order to implement conservation strategies, we need to know about its entire life history. In 2015, 113 birders submitted 249 checklists containing 3,887 Rusty Blackbirds. How will we do this year?
Please join us in this international-scale survey! All you need to do is enter your observations (Rusty or Rusty-less reports) on www.eBird.org. Be sure to use the "Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz" under the Other category on the Effort page. This means that you have specially been keeping your eye out for Rusty Blackbirds. If you are unfamiliar with eBird, let me know and I'll be more than happy to help you out. (Sightings entered on to the MOU database CANNOT be used in this research; however, eBird sightings CAN be transferred to the MOU database.) If interested, I have an article, flyer, and a number of other resource sheets at my disposal to give to you. The Minnesota co-coordinators are open to such requests plus questions and comments. Send an e-mail to Alyssa DeRubeis ([email protected]) or Brittney Yohannes ( [email protected]), or if you're in the southeast region of the state, Stephen Winter ([email protected]). Thanks guys! Let's go find us some Rusties! :) Alyssa DeRubeis Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz Minnesota co-coordinator ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
