Rusty Blackbirds!!!!!

You are looking at a few pictures of some of the Rusty Blackbirds we caught here on the 5th Nov! And the exciting thing about it, is that only three have been banded here since 1963! And only one since 1993 (one was banded in 2005). On the 5th we banded SIX!!!!!! These pictures are of 3 different individuals. As most of you might know, I was stoked about catching them! They are just super cool birds!
Although they are fairly common birds here in the fall, just like other blackbirds, we don't catch them here. Once again, like the Common Grackle, our net locations don't really give us a chance to catch them. Sometimes things just work out right for us!
On this particular day, there were lots of Grackles, Rustys, and Robins that descended into the banding station. We caught 5 of 6 of each species, and were very happy with that! Every fall, blackbirds pile into the park for a day or two, then leave. The 5th was our lucky day! I would love to see this become an annual thing here, but I am afraid I am just dreaming. I guess I will just have to live with the memories and the pics of the day that we actually caught blackbirds!