ML613505169
Contributor
Date
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Observation details
I came across one individual calling and occasionally singing among a small group of Common Grackle perched within a few Live Oak. It was quite windy, but I was close enough to hear. Although I am not familiar with Rusty Blackbird, nor excessively with the different vocalisations of Common Grackle, I could tell that this was different from any Grackle sounds I had heard before: a repeating Tchack tchack tchack kind of call, sometimes followed by a high squeaky kind of whistle, with an clearer, elongated second section of the whistle. I pulled out Merlin to see if it had any suggestions and was quite surprised to see it immediately propose Rusty Blackbird as this was not a species I have encountered here before (nor anywhere to that matter!), and which I am aware does not usually occur this far South. I didn’t really believe Merlin though and couldn’t get eyes on the bird, so I returned home to go and check on eBird if it can occur in this area, and to compare the two species. 30 mins later, I still hadn’t made my mind up and it was still bugging me (I had largely decided it was probably a Common Grackle doing strange things due to the improbability), so I went back to the spot where I had heard the bird to see if I could relocate it and see it/get some more recordings despite the wind. At that point, I started playing some Rusty Blackbird calls and songs, and saw this bright pale eye peering straight at me from the tree I had heard it in and and repeat the same calls. A few seconds later, the calling bird perched within 2-3m of me on some sedge-like plant, calling more urgently and occasionally emitting the whistle-like sound, and seemingly checking me out. I had never seen a bird respond in this way to play back! (Poor lonely bird (?)). I didn’t get the best look because I was surprised at its response, but I did note that it was a glossy black, grackle-like bird with a number of brown (rusty…) feathers peeking through the darker plumage particularly around its face, chest and nape (could be described as scaly), with a pale eye and slightly lighter bill than Common Grackle. The mosquitoes were pretty bad so I didn’t stay for too long after seeing it but I sent the recordings to two ornithologists (B. O’Shea, C. Bliznick) who were in positive agreement for the Rusty Blackbird ID. I tried to find it again a few days later after coming back from a trip but failed. Audio uploaded to eBird: pretty low quality as recorded on my phone + wind + walking + dog. Apologies :)
Technical information
- Recorder
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 3.22 MB