BLACK BIRDS SEEN IN NORTH AMERICA

Brewer's Blackbird

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Euphagus Cyanocephalus

Brewer's Blackbird

Males are black year round, with purplish iridescence on head and neck, and greenish gloss on body and wings, with contrast between head and body.

There are brown feather edges on tail and wings.

Males have yellow eyes and pale supercilium. They have sharp and pointed blackish bill.

Females are usually brown or gray-brown. Head and neck show light purplish gloss.

The body is metallic greenish, but wings and tail are darker and glossier. They have a dark eye line, and dark brown eyes.

Juveniles are similar to the females, but are paler and lack gloss.

Chicks are covered with sparse pale-gray down at hatching.

BILL: black, sharp and pointed.

SIZE: measures about 8 - 10.3 inches in length, with a wingspan of 15.5 inches.

WEIGHT: weighs about 63 grams.

COLOR: black, purplish-iridiscence, greenish gloss, brown, gray-brown, and pale-gray.

Invertebrates, such as arthropods, spiders, insects, snails and crustaceans; also seeds, grains and berries.

Open areas, such as farmlands, fields, residential areas and urban parks.

BREEDS: Southwestern Canada to Ontario, and southward in the west to Mexico and in Midwest to northern Illinois.

WINTER: Southern British Columbia, southward into southern Mexico and eastward along the southern United States to western Florida.

CALL: A harsh “check”.

SONG: A wheezy “que-ee” or “K-seee”.

NEST: The female builds an open cup with fine twigs and grasses on outer parts, then with grasses, pine needles and plant fibres mixed with mud and cow dung, to get a firm cup, and the nest is lined with rootlets and hair.

EGGS: 3 - 7 pale gray or greenish eggs, marked with brown.

INCUBATION: 12 - 14 days, female.

FLEDGLING AGE: 13 - 14 days.

They feed on open ground or underfoot in parks and busy streets. Their long legs give them a halting walk, head jerking with each step almost like a chicken’s.

In flocks, they rise and fall as they fly. At landing, they may circle in a slow fluttering flight before settling.