[CT Birds] Rusty Blackbird ramblings

[COMINS, Patrick]

Yes Luke, I would love to see gatherings of Rusty Blackbirds logged.  The reason is that their global conservation status was recently downgraded (higher concern) to 'vulnerable' by BirdLife International.  This is on a par with Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow and Cerulean Warbler and one category above (higher conservation concern) than Piping Plover.   Therefore, it would be a species that it would be important to identify key migratory stopover and wintering areas for.   As a globally 'vulnerable' species, the threshold for a globally significant IBA would be relatively low, so a site that regularly supports 90 or more in winter or migration could qualify as a global IBA and almost any site that regularly supports them could be considered for a state-level IBA.  If sightings of this species are regularly entered into eBird, it will allow us to better evaluate the possibility of globally significant and state-level IBAs for this species in the state.

Patrick



________________________________
From: streatham2003 at aol.com [mailto:streatham2003 at aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 9:28 AM
To: ctbirds at lists.ctbirding.org
Subject: Bald Eagles and Rusty Blackbird ramblings

Hi Don,

The Bald Eagle story really is a fantastic one and it is always a joy to take part in the CAS Eagle Festival in CT and be able to share with people an environmental success story (there are generally so few!) Bald Eagles have been on the list of common birds since I arrived in CT and were not considered reportable under the old list guidelines (except for gatherings of more than 20 birds): http://www.ctbirding.org/commonbirds.htm This year over on the Hudson I lead a trip for Sunrise Birding where we stopped off at an Eagle roost on the River and had a dozen Eagles all roosting in a tree line less than a few hundred yards long - quite amazing. It would be interesting to hear from some of the more seasoned birders and hawk watchers the timeline of when eagles started to be considered common again in the state.

Also down page I noted a sighting of 30 Rusty Blackbirds if I recall correctly the people at National Audubon or ebird are hoping to track sightings of significant flocks of Rusty Blackbirds - perhaps someone who knows about that could remind us of the details of reporting them?

Luke Tiller
Wilton
________________________________
Supercharge your AIM. Get the AIM toolbar<http://download.aim.com/client/aimtoolbar?NCID=aolcmp00300000002586> for your browser.