The Rusty blackbird is an understudied rapidly declining species of blackbird. It’s now getting a little attention, but needs lots more. In February 2005 the Smithsonian National Zoological Zoo founded the International Rusty Blackbird Technical Working Group.

Volunteers will search for rusty blackbirds in areas where they might be found. Those areas deemed potentially suitable in location or habitats. Those are the states that are known to comprise the rusty blackbird winter range. All this happened during nine days in February 2009, a few months ago.

Blitz Participation

173 birders submitted 453 rusty blackbird surveys under the E-bird Blitz protocol. Of these individual reports, 249 sightings totaling 19,243 individuals were recorded. 204 surveys did not record any rusty blackbirds (but negative data are very valuable as well). Some of these reports were repeats from the same site. The number of unique sites is 215.

Read the First Take of the Rusty Blackbird Blitz