Brewer's Blackbird
Euphagus cyanocephalus

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Icteridae
Genus: Euphagus

Audio for Species

Call
Song

from Macaulay Library

Species Related Links

Additional Brewer's Blackbird Pictures

Description

Male - Length: 8.3-9.8 in (21-25 cm) Weight: 2.1-3 oz (60-86 g) Wingspan: 14.6 in (37 cm)
Female - Length: 7.9-8.7 in (20-22 cm) Weight: 1.8-2.4 oz (50-67 g) Wingspan: 19.7-14.6 in (50-37 cm)

Blackbirds are black, a glossy black. The males have a frightful yellow eye. Thier plumage has a slight blue sheen on the head and a blue-green to the body reflecting from the glossiness in the plumage. The female has a flat brown to the black and the eyes are dark.

Habitat, Range, and Feeding

Brewer's Blackbirds live year round through most of the western half of North America, including the Olympic Pennsula. They can live at levels from below sea level to over 8,000 feet, and can be found in grasslands, marshes, forests, chaparral, coastlines, and urban areas.
They nest in shrubs or tree tops, first a few females will choose the nest site and as others arrive they join in on the nesting colony. It is known that up to 100 pairs will nest in the same colony. The females build a nest cup out of stems and twigs, lined with dries grasses, rootlets, and hair. Sometimes using manure or mud to plaster the materials together. The clutch size is 3 to 7 eggs, that are pale gray to greenish white, spotted with brown, pink, yellow, violet, and gray.

Their diet is mainly insects, with a smaller percentage being grains and weed seeds, but during migration about 84% is grains and seeds.