Late this afternoon, while participating in the long-standing Buffalo Ornithological Society April Count with Betsy Potter, I found a male BREWER'S BLACKBIRD. It was in a large flock of Red-wingeds, Grackles, Cowbirds, and Starlings that were feeding in a cattle pasture. This is the same pasture where I found a Cattle Egret a few years ago. The bird was not cooperative and foiled my attempts at digiscoping it. After a few minutes, the flock lifted off and most flew into some nearby trees. We never were able to relocate the Brewer's. We thought that the flock might return to feed some more but after a while it dissipated, so we left for home.
The location is on the south side of Balmer Road, a couple hundred yards east of Porter-Center Road. Beware that there were also a few Rusty Blackbirds in the area, which we heard and saw singing from the trees. Although we did not see any Rustys feeding in the pasture, it seems likely that they would on occasion. The Brewer's Blackbird was our last new species for the day. I did not tally our list yet but it is close to 100 species! Good birding! Willie ------------------ Willie D'Anna Betsy Potter Wilson, NY dannapotterATroadrunner.com http://www.betsypottersart.com <http://www.betsypottersart.com/> 2013 Big Year: http://www.betsypottersart.com/willie-s-photos/2013-big-year/ Big Year List: http://www.happtech.com/BigYearDanna/CurrentList/ShowCurrentListTable.aspx Odenates: http://www.betsypottersart.com/willie-s-photos/dragonflies -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
