ML150948351

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

7:16 pm. Rusty Blackbirds on the last island at Partridge.

Observation details

Conservative count. Estimate that actual count is closer to 300 Rusty Blackbirds. Parked on Heritage Lane and arrived at the last island at Partridge at 6:25 pm, just seconds before the first group of Rusty Blackbirds arrived. Used the last island at a blind to record from 6:25 pm to 7 pm and then positioned myself on the opposite side of the last island to count the flights leaving Partridge for rail bed island. Rusty Blackbirds were distributed over more than 6 trees between the 3 islands at Partridge and many moved to a tree on the last island just before flying to rail bed island. Two large flights left at approx 7:16 pm with 75 to 100 RUBL in each flight. A third flight of 60 RUBL flew to rail bed island at 7:18 pm with at least 30 RUBL still remaining on Partridge Island. This gives an estimated number of 250 to 300 Rusty Blackbirds staging to roost on Partridge Island (and not all Rusty Blackbirds would have stopped at Partridge Island). A digital counter was used to count the Rusty Blackbirds after their arrival on rail bed island (250) and approx 10% was deducted to exclude any Common Grackles (which were present at less than 10%). Some of the Rusty Blackbirds would have continued straight on the stand of trees further out in the marsh at Elizabeth Way.

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX60 HS

ISO

800

Focal length

117.9 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/80 sec

Dimensions

4608 pixels x 3456 pixels

Original file size

6.48 MB