ML25151761

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

Male Tricolored Blackbird (above) with Brewer's Blackbird (below) at California State University San Bernardino on 29 Feb 2016; first campus record and 170th species I have recorded on campus.

Observation details

I found a male Tricolored Blackbird foraging with about 25 Brewer's Blackbirds and one or two Red-winged Blackbirds on the lawns between the Commons and the dorms. The male was glossy jet black, except for a white bar on the upper wing formed by the white tips to a row of the upper wing coverts; the feathers directly above this were red, but almost entirely obscured by the surrounding black feathers. I noted that the bill appeared slender overall and did not appear very deep at the base. It flushed to a tree and called several times giving a loud, grating "chack chack chack" that was clearly different from the rich "churk" calls of the Red-winged Blackbirds and the softer "check" calls of the Brewer's Blackbirds. This is the 170th species I have recorded on campus; two crappy smartphone pics are included below.

Technical information

Model

SM-G920P

ISO

40

Focal length

4.3 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/1.9

Shutter speed

1/2144 sec

Dimensions

762 pixels x 772 pixels

Original file size

139.05 KB