Rusty Grakle

Birders might say that this blackbird is rusty because it spends so much time in the water. In migration and winter it is usually in swampy places, wading in very shallow water at the edges of wooded streams. In summer it retires to northern spruce bogs; no other blackbird has such a northerly breeding distribution. The name 'Rusty' applies to the colors of fall birds, but it could also describe the rusty-hinge sound of the creaking song.