Were there really Rusty Blackbirds in Lake Elsinore CA?
Rusty Blackbirds Spotted in Lake Elsinore CA?
Two days ago (Nov 16, 2009), I had to go to the bank. On the way back I stopped at the Post Office. As I got out of my car and walked through a parking lot to the Po Office I spotted two little brownish black birds near a car tire. I took a double-look to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. It looked like two Rusty Blackbirds.
Now I am not a real bird watcher, but with all the images of Rusty Blackbirds for my bird sites that I have viewed and even posted a few (all taken by others) I have a pretty good idea of how the little birds look.
I was surprised the birds didn’t fly away, but let me get within a few feet of them. I thought maybe there were some other birds that might look like Rusty Blackbirds, but my gut instincts told me that they might actually be those birds.
I still had doubts, however, since this is normally far away from their home grounds during migrating time.
I made one more stop at Stater Bros supermarket. I always park far away from all other cars, if possible, and that day was no exception. As I started the long 300 foot walk to the store I saw a small flock of brownish looking birds on the ground foraging on the asphalt for goodies. It was shocking! They all looked strikingly like my vision of Rusty Blackbirds. I was able to get a very close-up look and sure enough they looked exactly like Rusty Blackbirds.
There were probably 25- 30 birds and all of them I could see closely were the rusty brown of the Rusty Blackbird.
I have been here in Lake Elsinore over twenty years and have never seen this kind of bird here before.
I live probably a couple of thousand miles from their closest migration path so there is still some question in my mind about the true identity of the birds. However, there have been a few sightings of the birds in California before.
Anyone else in/near Southern California spotted Rusty Blackbirds lately? Can anyone verify they have seen any in the area of Lake Elsinore California? Post any comments below this article.
Charles Harmon
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Sighting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
