Brewer's Blackbird in St. Louis County
2017-01-16

Occasional in St. Louis County in the Winter season

Adult male Brewer's Blackbird in Duluth, St. Louis County, 16 January 2017. Discovered by Frank Nicoletti and Peder Svingen along Courtland St in a large flock of starlings (1500) and robins (142) foraging on a bed of compost. Well-documented mid-winter records of this species are few and far between, especially in northern Minnesota. Excluding CBC records and those without details leaves a handful of true winter records: an injured bird seen daily at Tofte, Cook County, 26 Dec 1966 to 15 Jan 1967, one that overwintered at a feeder in Deerwood, Crow Wing County during Winter 1972-73, one in Cook County through 23 Jan 1987, a female through 8 Jan 1987 and a male throughout Jan & Feb 1987 at Isabella, Lake County, and one that overwintered in Sax-Zim, St. Louis County, in Winter 1991-92. Distinguishing silent Brewer's Blackbird (BRBL) from Rusty Blackbird (RUBL) is an under-appreciated problem, especially lone individuals in winter and migrants in spring. Kim Eckert (who kindly commented on this image) wrote about this conundrum in a "Birding by Hindsight" article, which can be read online at http://mbwbirds.com/blackbirds.html Characters visible in this image that identify this bird as BRBL include the following: 1) Bill is conical in shape and relatively thick at the base. RUBL has a thinner bill that is usually slightly downcurved.
 2) Iridescent gloss is present on the entire bird. RUBL is much less glossy, especially on the body.
 3) Head is dark purplish-blue and contrasts with greenish-gloss body. RUBL in spring is uniformly dull blackish with minimal contrast between head and body.
 4) Absolutely no rusty tones can be found anywhere on this bird. RUBL normally show obvious rusty edging on head feathers, back, upper wing-coverts, and tertials in mid-January. The rusty edges gradually wear until the males are in their all-dark breeding plumage in the spring (March at the earliest, more likely in April). 
 5) Tail length seems balanced in proportion to its body and head. RUBL are said to be shorter-tailed and shorter-legged than BRBL, but this probably can’t be judged accurately on a lone bird.

Peder H. Svingen