Brewer's or Rusty

[kastern]

One evening last week we walked over to Eagle Point Park. Spotted this bird at the edge of the water. I suspect it is a young Brewer's Blackbird but it doesn't quite look like other young Brewer's I've seen and when I check my Sibley's Guide I wonder if there is anyway it could be a Rusty Blackbird. Sibley's say's that Rusty Blackbirds have a thin, slightly downcurved bill - this bird's bill appears slightly 'downcurved' but I wouldn't say it was thin yet the eye marking and color and the sort of scaly pattern on the back and the slight bluish color and the fact it was alone rather than in a flock, makes me wonder. What do others think? If it is a Rusty it would be another species for the area.


View one



View two

Kathy

[Gord]

Geeze Kathy! I have no experience with rusty blackbirds, but I agree, it doesnt work with Brewer's blackbird juvenille to me either and if it is a Brewer's it will be a juvenile male (obviously). Looking at the light eye stripe sure looks promising! Too bad we cant see the wings very well, did you notice rusty edges? Well done on getting pictures and for spotting this guy!!

I grabbed a couple photos of RUBL from the net as it's sometimes easier to compare a picture to another picture. Possibly someone with more experience can share some insight on this bird.

Again, well done!

[Gord]

Still scratching my head. In Sibley's it shows non-breeding male BRBL to be similar, but darker (to me) and juv BRBL males do have a yellow eye, so that cant be ruled out either. A few female BRBL do have yellow eyes apparently. Ive never seen that, but it does happen on occassion. Dont think it's a female BRBL though.

Weird! I tend to lean towards RUBL, but the time of year (not that I usually base any opinion on that) is quite early for a rusty, the beak looks thick like you said and the picture doesnt show much rusty colours; mostly because some key spots are behind tufts of grass as they usually like to hide.

I dont think we can turn this guy into a grackle... ;D

Look forward to hearing more about this!

[Gord]

I stumbled across a scan of a slide I took from the pond at Chilliwack Library at least 10 years ago. I cannot find the slide to get the date off of it as it must be in the stack of old slides I scanned while at school. They had a nice slide scanner there. I spent a lot of free time and boring lectures in the computer room scanning. Boy, that was a great scanner! If anyone wants to learn about Nikon scanner's abilty to scan several hundered slides and not break, ask me.

This is a young male Brewer's and Id submit that the date is mid to late summer. I was disturbed to see a hint of what we're debating here so thought Id share it. Still, the facial pattern is not as distinct as the bird in question, but it sure looks like there is colour in the wing feather edges!!! It doesnt help that this is a poor picture. Also, the eye is not a bright as the nearby adult male Brewer's, and also appears duller than the bird we're trying to figure out which would make sense to support my feelings that currently believe that it's very probably a rusty blackbird. How's that for a politician's answer? ;D

The plot thickens, or does it? hehe

[Gord]

Kathy, I consulted other sources for opinions and the concensus is that it's a juv Brewer's, but a very bright one! I tried zooming in on the wings like another birder did and there isn't any 'rusty' on the wings that I can see either.

Good eyes to pick this bird out though! Practice like this is invaluable! Thanks a lot for sharing this.

[kastern]

Dug into my CD's because I thought I had a photo of a juvenile Brewer's Blackbird and I found one but it is very poor and obviously of an older bird than the one in the picture as it basically looks just like a moth eaten male. To add to the issue though I did find these pictures that I took quite a few years ago (pre digital) they are, I think, of Rusty Blackbirds


This is, I think, an adult Rusty Blackbird. It was taken at Idleback Lake up in the hills to the east of Penticton.



This photo was taken at a little lake up in the Chicotin area of B.C. in early Sept. The only conclusion I could come to as to it's ID at the time was that of a juvenile Rusty Blackbird. There were two of them at this particular little lake and they were always either right at the edge of the water or in the trees immediately at the edge. Again it was a long time ago - pre digital days

Don't know if this helps or just adds confusion to the issue.
Kathy

[kastern]

Gord, you and I must have been on line at the same time so I didn't see your above response when I sent in the last one. Am not surprised it turns out to be something quite ordinary - that's usually the way it is, but the fact that sometimes it is something exciting is what keeps us all doing this isn't it!?

Kathy

[Gord]

Oh yes, the chance of something rare helps get one out the door and keen!

Sure, it was just a Brewer's...this time...but the discussion and practice gained from it was invaluable. I believe that knowing the ordinary birds very, very well is almost more valuable than knowing the non-ordinary ones (although experience with them is GREAT!) when watching for uncommon birds.

This Brewer's very much deserved the picture and observations you made considering that it, to me, was not typical.

Forgot to mention your pictures. The bottom picture does not turn out well on my computer's undersized screen, but the top one I would say is a rusty as you can see the diagnostic rusty edges on the wing feathers (not to mention that this would be an even weirder Brewer's when you look at the rest of the bird!!!)

[Janne]

At Manning Park Lodge where I stayed from Monday to Thursday this week, there was a mixed flock of Brewer's and Cowbirds. One (adult, male?) bird looked to be in eclipse plumage with an overall dull brown colour but with iridescent edges to some of the wing feathers and in the head area. What struck me was the eye which was not just yellow like a Brewer's but had a pale iris. It said "Rusty Blackbird" to me. I didn't pay attention to the bill.