cccougar Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 (edited) Flocks or “clouds” of Rusty Blackbirds have been spotted in my Charleston, SC area neighborhood recently. Heard a cacophony of birds early this morning, went out and took some very mediocre photos. Wondering if these are Rusties. Hope so because this would be a lifer for me! Edited January 25, 2022 by cccougar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avery Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 I believe so. Bill looks curved. Definitely not grackles! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HamRHead Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 (edited) Can Brewer's be ruled out? Although, I think Rusty is more likely based on date. Edited January 25, 2022 by HamRHead 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cccougar Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 Hope so too Avery! Let’s see if I few more folks respond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cccougar Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 Brewer’s would be a lifer for me too. But they aren’t as common in SC in the winter, based on this website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meghann Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 38 minutes ago, HamRHead said: Can Brewer's be ruled out? Although, I think Rusty is more likely based on date. Bill is way too big for Brewers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meghann Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 (And I would have called these Grackles.) ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cccougar Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 Maybe Grackles? Wish I had better pix to help decide for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Spencer Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 9 minutes ago, meghann said: (And I would have called these Grackles.) ? I think the heads are too round for Gracks, with too deep a notch where the bill joins the head. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipperatl Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 I see Grackles. Tails are longer in the middle. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hasan Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 These are definitely Grackles. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avery Posted January 26, 2022 Share Posted January 26, 2022 1 hour ago, Hasan said: These are definitely Grackles. Really? The tails don't look nearly long enough to me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackburnian Posted January 26, 2022 Share Posted January 26, 2022 Certainly grackles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avery Posted January 26, 2022 Share Posted January 26, 2022 2 hours ago, Hasan said: These are definitely Grackles. 14 minutes ago, blackburnian said: Certainly grackles. Oh, I see what I did. I thought the first photo was distorting the bill to make it look longer, so I thought it was only the "solid" part. My bad @cccougar. Hopefully you'll get those Rusties soon! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Spencer Posted January 26, 2022 Share Posted January 26, 2022 @cccougar, did you hear them? Grackles usually are very noisy, making a harsh, almost mechanical sound. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cccougar Posted January 27, 2022 Author Share Posted January 27, 2022 Did hear them, but not sure what they were. Were very loud. I have listened to Rusty BB calls and it didn’t seem to sound like that. Hope they come back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbvol50 Posted January 27, 2022 Share Posted January 27, 2022 First bird is a grackle others could be Rusty but hard to tell from this photo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hasan Posted January 27, 2022 Share Posted January 27, 2022 41 minutes ago, hbvol50 said: First bird is a grackle others could be Rusty but hard to tell from this photo All the identifiable birds in both photos are Grackles 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cccougar Posted January 27, 2022 Author Share Posted January 27, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cccougar Posted January 27, 2022 Author Share Posted January 27, 2022 Does this pix help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hasan Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 Again, Grackles 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWM Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 Bills look too large for Rusty Blackbird. Here's a pic I took this month of one (New York), I think more "rust" would show this time of year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiscalus quiscula Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 @MWM that looks like a Rusty to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cccougar Posted January 29, 2022 Author Share Posted January 29, 2022 Yeah that’s not my pix though, unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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