Rusty Blackbird

Three photos with comments from Peter Burke and Alvaro Jaramillo

Rusty Blackbird in Toronto on 24 December 2007

Rusty Blackbird in Toronto on 24 December 2007

Rusty Blackbird in Toronto on 24 December 2007

Peter Burke's comments: This looks to me like a straightforward male Rusty Blackbird. I'm not sure about aging it because at this point some first basic birds may have worn down the bright edges to this extent already. However, the amount of black that it shows suggests an adult male. Rusties have a complete molt in late summer but I have seen some males almost lacking any bright edging in early October, presumably after the prebasic molt is completed. Most times that I've seen male Rusties during CBCs, they look like this or even a bit darker, so it seems to me that those classic brightly colored males we see in the fall have worn quite a bit by now. However, there is lots of variation in this, just look at the specimens and dates on the tags in the ROM.

  I think that this is clearly not a Brewer's for a few reasons: the bill has the classic droop tip of a Rusty, even though the images are somewhat blurry. It also lacks any hint of the turquoise body gloss that all male Brewer's show at ALL times of the year, regardless of how much brown-grey edging might be present (an uncommon but regular feature on fresh basic Brewer's). Thirdly, you never see the bright rufous colors on the cap or back on a Brewer's like you see on this bird. Brewer's get brown edging on the cap (again, on some birds) but it is not as reddish as this.  

  Tertial edgings on Rusties versus Brewer's if absent, like on this bird, is not a useful feature. Alvaro Jaramillo and I wrote and illustrated about "Fall and winter plumages of male Rusty and Brewer's Blackbirds" in Birders Journal 4(2): 97-101, April 1995.

Alvaro Jaramillo's comments: It is a Rusty Blackbird, male, perhaps a young male as the primaries look kind of brownish rather than black. The very pointed bill is unlike what you see on Brewer's (a backyard bird for me), and this level of strong coloration is beyond what I have ever seen on Brewer's. Not only in the saturation of the colored feather tips, but also the color itself, these are too rusty for Brewer's, which at the most has warm cinnamon or strong buff markings on the upperparts.