Rusty Blackbird - a photo on Flickriver

Rusty Blackbird

            The Rusty blackbird, a medium-sized New World blackbird, is a fascinating species closely related to grackles. It has a unique preference for wet forested areas, breeding in the boreal forest and muskeg across northern Canada and migrating southeast to the United States during winter. What sets it apart is the rusty feather edges visible on both the non-breeding males and the females, along with their pale yellow eyes. Non-breeding males also sport buffy eyebrows, adding to their distinctiveness.
Females have gray-brown bodies and dark feathers surrounding the eye, contrasting with a pale brow.
Breeding males are glossy black all over, with a greenish iridescent sheen. 
These birds love wet, boggy areas and deep boreal forests. Their nesting areas have been historically remote, making it difficult for researchers to learn about them. Rusty blackbirds will wade into shallows and feed by plunging their heads into the water to find tasty insects, larvae, snails, small fish, salamanders, and crayfish. 
The rusty blackbird, facing a severe decline in numbers, needs our immediate attention. Its population has shrunk by 85 to 95% over 40 years–a decline more drastic than any other songbird in North America. The urgency of the situation underscores the importance of our conservation efforts. Possible contributing factors to this decline include habitat loss, mercury toxicity, pesticide runoff, and climate change, all of which are within our control to mitigate.

   

Taken on: May 2, 2024

Tags:

alaska

america

arizona

avian

background

beak

bird

birding

birdwatching

blackbird

brown

carolinus

closeup

environment

euphagus

feather

female

grackle

icterid

icteridae

insects

iridescent

isolated

migratory

natural

nature

north

northern

ornithology

outdoors

outside

passeriformes

passerine

plumage

rusty

shiny

songbirds

wild

wildlife

wing

united states

boreal forest

forested areas

Snowshoe Photography Alaska

Wendy Johnson

south-central

southcenteral

south-central alaska

Nikon

Nikon D750 « less

Sets appears in: • Alaska Life 2024

Groups appears in: • Flickritis: over 87,000 waiting for a vaccine. • Alaska Birds more » • Alaska Shutterbugz • Birds Photos - Check out the new discussions! • Birds of North America • Flickr's Biggest Group • Birds & More Birds • flickr (unofficial) • flickr every day! • Birding for everyone! (Field Guide of the World) • BirdWorld « less

Camera: Nikon D750, f/5.6, 1/200 sec, 500mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D750
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.005 sec (1/200)
Focal Length:	500mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Exposure Program:	Manual
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Topaz Photo AI 3.0.1 (Windows)
Show full info

Stats: 208 views / 1 comment

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder