Breeding Location:
Wetlands, Ponds, Meadows, shrubby
Breeding Type:
Monogamous, Pairs
Breeding Population:
Fairly common
Egg Color:
Blue green with brown and gray splotches
Number of Eggs:
4 - 5
Incubation Days:
14
Egg Incubator:
Female
Nest Material:
Grass, Mud, Twigs, Lichens
Migration:
Migratory
Recommended Products:
General
Rusty Blackbird: Medium-sized blackbird, black overall with a dull, blue-green sheen, and yellow eyes. Female is dark gray with faint, darker scaling and has paler throat and dark eye patch. Winter male is dull black with rust-brown bars. Winter female is rust-brown with gray rump and dark eye patch. Juvenile resembles winter female. Rust-brown feather tips wear off to create darker spring plumage.
Range and Habitat
Rusty Blackbird: Breeds from Alaska across northern Canada to southern Canada, northern New York, and northern New England. Spends winters from southeastern South Dakota and southern New England south to the Gulf Coast. Preferred habitats include beaver ponds, roadsides, landfills, wet meadows, and shrubby shorelines.
Breeding and Nesting
Rusty Blackbird: Four to five pale blue-green eggs with brown and gray splotches are laid in a bulky nest woven from twigs and lichens with an inner cup of mud and grass. Eggs are incubated for 14 days by the female.
Foraging and Feeding
Rusty Blackbird: Feeds on insects, snails, small fish, waste grain, and seeds; walks on the ground while foraging.
Readily Eats
Cracked Corn, Nut Meats, Suet, Millet
Vocalization
Rusty Blackbird: Call is a sharp "chuck." Song is a high-pitched creaky "koo-a-lee-m-eek, koo-a-lee-eek."
Similar Species
Rusty Blackbird: Brewer's Blackbird has whiter eyes and glossier plumage; female has dark eyes.
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