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"mystery" blackbird opinion and Cane Creek, NC sightings
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: "mystery" blackbird opinion and Cane Creek, NC sightings
- From: Jeff Pippen <jspippen@duke.edu>
- Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 19:31:47 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Birders,
This weekend I birded the Cane Creek area and the Dairyland Rd. area in
Orange Co., NC with the family. Points of interest included:
Black-crowned Night-Heron (3 immatures in a little pond were a good find!)
Sharp-shinned Hawk
no harriers (disappointing after seeing so many at the coast last weekend)
Canvasback (2, my first of season)
American Pipit (a handful at Cane Creek)
White-crowned Sparrow (a couple adults at Cane Creek; 1st of season)
Rusty Blackbird (singing (!) at Cane Creek; 1st of season)
In addition, I saw a "mystery blackbird". It was a fall male
Brewer's/Rusty type feeding in a mixed flock in a cornfield with
Red-wings, cowbirds and grackles. With the mid-afternoon sun at my back
I noted the following: pale eye; dark bill which didn't strike me as
particularly large or small; distinct pale buff-beige eyebrow which ran
from the the bill to well behind the eye; mottled brownish head, breast,
and back; dull oily black wings and tail completely without any rusty
edges/markings on coverts, scapulars, or tertials. It walked through the
cornfield rows like the other birds, but it did not cock its tail up,
like I've seen Brewer's do out west. It looked "just like the picture"
of the fall variant male Brewer's Blackbird in the National Geographic
Guide, however, since Brewer's Blackbird is an EXTREMELY rare bird in the
NC piedmont, I'd like some opinion on whether fall Rusty's can lack rusty
edges. Also, I've seen hundreds and hundreds of Brewer's Blackbirds in
the last couple of years in the southwest and I've seen lots of Rusty
Blackbirds over the years here in NC. Although this bird was definitely
one of those two, it didn't jump out at me as definitely one or the
other, as they often do. Even though it looked to me like the Brewer's
in the NGS guide, my gut feeling is that it was a Rusty. Any thoughts?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jeff Pippen jspippen@duke.edu
Biology Dept. Box 90338
Duke University, Durham, NC 27708 PH: (919) 660-7278
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