Rusty Blackbird Blitz – Go, Connecticut!
The Rusties are coming! Rusty Blackbirds are moving northward from their southeastern U.S. wintering grounds, and they are headed towards Connecticut, so get ready to go out and start searching! The Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz officially opens in Connecticut now, and we encourage all birders to participate. Many of you have already done so, and some Rusty Blackbirds have been here despite the historically cold conditions. For others who may enjoy more spring birding soon helping out is easy – bird as you normally do and search especially carefully for Rusty Blackbirds, and...
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The Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz is coming up soon as March is only a couple weeks away! Please help us find and record all the Rusty Blackbirds you can from March through June wherever you are in North America, entering them into eBird to help scientists and conservationists rushing to save the species that is secretly vanishing from our world. Do not let them become but a shadow like the Passenger Pigeon or Labrador Duck before them. See more here in this previous post. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreLittle Brown Jumper
A most amazing encounter in a small, drab package… I am a fortunate man…I’ve traveled to all sorts of exotic locales and am lucky enough to have encountered some pretty spectacular wildlife in the process. Photographs of some of these wonderful frogs, birds, snakes and other treasures have graced these posts in the past. This time around I would like to share with you something tiny and drab instead, but something that made me profoundly happy to encounter! During a recent trip to Costa Rica I had a brief opportunity to detour from my already scheduled destinations in hopes of...
Read MoreRusty Blackbird Blitz 2015
Rusty Blackbirds: Looking Forward, Looking Back Authors: Judith Scarl, International Coordinator, Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz (www.rustyblackbird.org) Scott Kruitbosch, Conservation & Outreach Coordinator, Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History (www.rtpi.org) Connecticut Coordinator, Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz A female Rusty Blackbird huddles on a Minnesota rooftop during a blizzard, fluffing herself into a ball to keep warm. A male flips leaves in a roadside ditch in Maryland, navigating partially frozen mud to hunt for spring’s first invertebrates. A...
Read MoreRusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus)
This is one very startled-looking Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus)! He was actually just extremely engrossed in looking for some cracked corn, one of their favorites when visiting bird feeders. Please remember you are looking at one of the fastest declining species in North America here. Their silent downfall is only now getting the notoriety that it deserves, and our help is greatly needed. On that end I will soon be making an announcement on how we at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History are contributing to helping out the Rusty Blackbird. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation...
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