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Rusty Blackbirds
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Rusty Blackbirds
- From: "Elisa Enders" <eenders@unity.ncsu.edu>
- Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 15:17:40 -0500
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Since others have been seeing Rusty Blackbirds, I decided to send this
message about the birds I and my brother saw this past Saturday on the
Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University. We saw 4 blackbirds
which I thought were Rustys. In the past, the best looks I saw of Rusty
Blackbirds were when they were flying over. I wish I had taken more notice of
the eye color of the birds we saw Saturday. I worry they may have been female
Red-winged Blackbirds. The birds were very beautiful with bluish-gray vertical
streaks on the breast, bluish-black backs, thin beaks, and reddish-brown faces.
The call note they made when they flew was a soft "chuck".
Other birds were:
Cedar Waxwings
Carolina Wrens
Brown Thrashers
Rufous-sided Towhees (Eastern Towhees I suppose)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (heard only)
Yellow-rumped Warblers
Song Sparrows
White-throated Sparrows
Swamp Sparrows
The blackbirds were sitting in a cattail marsh, which looked rather dry
with one stream running through. Construction was occurring out there and the
low area where the marsh is located looks as though it will be flooded
eventually. A small dam or wall is being built. The thought of this place
being flooded bothers me because the marsh looked like it might be able to hold
a few rails.
Elisa Enders
--
Elisa Enders
student, Chemical Engineering
NC State University, Raleigh, NC
eenders@eos.ncsu.edu