Rusty Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird has increased: up 48% on the route-weighted index since 1968.
About the Rusty Blackbird
A boreal-breeding blackbird of wooded swamps and wet woods, the Rusty Blackbird has suffered one of the steepest declines of any North American bird.
- Size
- 8.5–10 in long, about 2.1 oz (21–25 cm, 60 g)
- Habitat
- Marshes, ponds, lakeshores and other freshwater wetlands.
- Diet
- Insects and aquatic invertebrates, plus seeds and waste grain.
- Range
- Recorded on 132 Breeding Bird Survey routes across 8 states, most concentrated in the Atlantic Northern Forest.
- Family
- Icteridae · Wetland birds
- Conservation
- Vulnerable
Notable Rusty Blackbird Trends
No notable trend signals for Rusty Blackbird. See the full index history below.
Rusty Blackbird Population Forecast
If the recent trend holds, Rusty Blackbird is projected to stay roughly flat through 2029, near 0.02 (95% range 0.01–0.03). A 5-year backtest shows a typical error of ±90.9%, with 80% of held-out values landing inside the 95% band.
| Year | Projected index | 95% low | 95% high |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.03 |
| 2026 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.03 |
| 2027 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.03 |
| 2028 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.03 |
| 2029 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.03 |
Where the Rusty Blackbird Is Detected
BBS routes recording Rusty Blackbird, sized by most recent count.
Rusty Blackbird Population Trend by State
| Alaska | -32% | 1976 | 67 |
| Maine | -88% | 1968 | 29 |
| Michigan | insufficient data | n/a | 1 |
| Minnesota | insufficient data | n/a | 4 |
| New Hampshire | -69% | 1968 | 8 |
| New Jersey | insufficient data | n/a | 1 |
| New York | +61% | 1971 | 15 |
| Vermont | insufficient data | n/a | 7 |
Rusty Blackbird Population Trend by Region
Bird Conservation Regions are the ecological unit for trends.
| BCR 2 | -88% | 1987 | 13 |
| BCR 4 | -15% | 1983 | 46 |
| Northern Pacific Rainforest | -61% | 1982 | 8 |
| Atlantic Northern Forest | -79% | 1968 | 57 |
Rusty Blackbird Conservation Status
Vulnerable
The IUCN Red List rates this species as Vulnerable. Our route-weighted index shows it up about 48% since 1968.
Source: USGS North American Breeding Bird Survey, retrieved 2026-05-22. Trend is a route-weighted relative-abundance index, not an absolute population.