Female Brewer's blackbird, Euphagus cyanocephalus, photographed at Point Reyes, California, USA.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 27 December 2010 [velociraptorize].
Nikon D200 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400
Question: This relatively common North American mystery bird species should be fairly easy to identify -- can you identify the species as well as the sex of this bird?
Response: This is an adult female Brewer's blackbird, Euphagus cyanocephalus, as you can tell from the relatively plain, charcoal grey plumage, black legs and feet, and sharp black beak. It is difficult to see the eye in this image, but juvenile males can be distinguished from females because they have a yellow eye, whilst females have dark eyes. Adult males are easily identified by their stunning iridescent blue-purple-black plumage.
These North American mystery birds are ... different. They nest in groups and appear to make group decisions regarding their nest preference from year to year: for example, they may decide to build all their nests in small bushes one year and in tall trees the next.
These birds prefer open prairies and fields, so human destruction of the North American deciduous forests has allowed them to expand their range eastwards. These birds forage on the ground, but apparently aren't too particular about where, since I often seen them hanging around parking lots, especially near fast food "restaurants".
You are invited to review all of the daily mystery birds by going to their dedicated graphic index page.
If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and (mostly) appreciative audience, feel free to email them to me for consideration.
