rusty blackbird

American  

noun

1. a North American blackbird, Euphagus carolinus, the male of which has plumage that is uniformly bluish-black in the spring and rusty-edged in the fall.

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Etymology

Origin of rusty blackbird

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55

Example Sentences

In a 2012 study, scientists concluded that climate change had likely contributed to the decline of the once-common rusty blackbird, which has seen its range in Maine retract northward as temperatures have risen.

From New York Times • Oct. 10, 2019

Ornithologists have recorded recent declines in northern bird species like the black-backed woodpecker, olive-sided flycatcher and rusty blackbird.

From New York Times • Dec. 2, 2011

When the rusty blackbird strips, Bunch by bunch, the coral thorn, And the pale day-crescent dips, New to heaven a slender horn.

From The Aldine, Vol. 5, No. 1., January, 1872 A Typographic Art Journal by Various

The edge of the wood, just mentioned, was populous with them: robins, bluebirds, chickadees, fox sparrows, snow-birds, song sparrows, tree sparrows, phœbes, a golden-winged woodpecker, and a rusty blackbird.

From Birds in the Bush by Torrey, Bradford