Rusty Blackbird!

After working Sunday, so I could take Monday off, driving  3 hours to Fish Springs NWR and back, and weathering a blistering 40F, sunny and cloudless day (OK this part was good) I saw the Rusty Black bird. The above picture was taken by Pat. 

As expected, I received quite a few comments for going to see this bird. "Mom you go to strange places with strange people" from Cassidy to a co-worker sending me an email with only the word "freak" in it (his preferred nick name for me). My favorite comment though, was a question. “What kind of bird and why is it special?” I thought I would answer it here... 

The Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus Carolinus) is a widespread North American species that breeds in the boreal wetlands. Dring the winter months, however, it migrates to the wooded wetlands of the southeast United States. Occasionally during theses migrations a bird will get lost and appear outside of its normal range. Making it special, in that it shows up where it is not expected and allowing myself and others to see the bird without flying to Mississippi.

Currely, this birds population is in decline. "An analysis of the literature on the distribution of North America birds from the late-18th to the late-19th century shows a consistent long-term decline in the qualitative assessment of this species' abundance. More alarmingly is that both national indicators of songbird abundance, the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and the CBC, show sharp declines over the past three decades (see graph).BBS data indicate a population trend that averages a decline of more than ten percent per year for the last 30 years." This decline accounts for more than 95 percent of the population that existed when the Breeding Bird Survey was initiated. Since the Rusty Blackbird is dependant on wood wetlands to survive, both in summer and wintering habitats, its decline could be an indicator of the general health of the wooded wetlands of North America and perhaps give incite to why other species, of that same habitat, are also in decline.

You can join the search for Rusty Blackbirds and learn more about it and it's decline here.