Montana Field Guide

Help

Montana Field Guides

Home - Other Field Guides
- Kingdom - Animals - Animalia
  - Phylum - Vertebrates - Craniata
    - Class - Birds - Aves
      - Order - Songbirds - Passeriformes
        
        Family - Blackbirds - Icteridae
        
        Species - Rusty Blackbird - Euphagus carolinus

Rusty Blackbird - Euphagus carolinus

Image Copyright and Usage Information

Native Species

Global Rank: G4
State Rank: SNA

Agency Status
USFWS: MBTA
USFS:
BLM:
PIF:

External Links

General Description

The Rusty Blackbird breeds from Alaska across the boreal forests of Canada and winters in the southeastern United States. The species is an uncommon migrant throughout Montana with fewer than twelve observations reported in a typical year (Avery 2013, MTNHP 2019).

For a comprehensive review of the conservation status, habitat use, and ecology of this and other Montana bird species, please see Marks et al. 2016, Birds of Montana.

Species Range

Montana Range Range Descriptions

Migratory

Western Hemisphere Range

Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database

Number of Observations: 552

(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions

Relative Density

Recency

SUMMER (Feb 16 - Dec 14)

Direct Evidence of Breeding

Indirect Evidence of Breeding

No Evidence of Breeding

WINTER (Dec 15 - Feb 15)

Regularly Observed

Not Regularly Observed

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)

National Vegetation Classification System Groups Associated with this Species

Forest and Woodland

Montane - Subalpine Forest and Woodland

Cedar - Hemlock Forest

Dry Spruce-fir Forest

Interior PNW Douglas-fir Forest and Woodland

Lodgepole Pine Forest

Montane Mesic Coniferous (Grand Fir - Douglas-fir - Western Larch) Forest

Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir Forest

Whitebark Pine - Subalpine Larch Forest and Woodland

Shrubland

Sagebrush Shrubland

Basin and Wyoming Big (Threetip) Sagebrush Shrubland

Mountain Big Sagebrush Shrubland

Grassland

Lowland - Prairie Grassland

Great Plains Dry Mixedgrass Prairie

Great Plains Mesic Mixedgrass Prairie

Great Plains Solonetzic Grassland

Rocky Mountain Low Elevation - Dry Grassland

Wetland and Riparian

Alkaline - Saline Wetlands

Greasewood Shrubland

Great Plains Saline Marsh and Wet Meadow

Intermountain Alkaline - Saline Grassland and Meadow

Alpine Riparian and Wetland

Alpine - Subalpine Herbaceous and Dwarf-Shrub Riparian and Wetland

Peatland

Great Plains Alkaline Fen

Riparian and Wetland Forest

Great Plains Floodplain Forest

Lowland - Montane Riparian Deciduous Forest

Montane - Subalpine Riparian Forest

Montane Forested Wetland

Riparian Shrubland

Great Plains Floodplain Shrubland and Herbland

Wet Meadow and Marsh

Arid West Freshwater Marsh and Wet Meadow

Great Plains Freshwater Marsh

Great Plains Wet Meadow, Marsh and Shrub Swamp

Montane Wet Meadow and Marsh

Great Plains Wet Meadow, Riparian Shrubland and Fen

Recently Disturbed or Modified

Harvested Forest

Recently Logged

Insect-Killed Forest

Recent Insect/Disease Damage

Introduced Vegetation

Introduced - Upland Herbaceous Vegetation

Human Land Use

Agriculture

Cultivated Crops, Dryland

Irrigated Agriculture

Pasture/Hay, Dryland

Developed

Developed - Low and Medium Intensity

Developed - Vegetation

Stewardship Responsibility

References

Literature Cited AboveLegend: View Online Publication
- [MTNHP] Montana Natural Heritage Program. 2019. Point observation database. Helena, MT.
- Avery, M.L. 2013. Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (A.F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi-org.weblib.lib.umt.edu:2443/10.2173/bna.200
- Marks, J.S., P. Hendricks, and D. Casey. 2016. Birds of Montana. Arrington, VA. Buteo Books. 659 pages.
Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?
- American Ornithologists’ Union [AOU]. 1998. Check-list of North American birds, 7th edition. American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C. 829 p.
- Avery, M.L. 1995. Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus). Species Account Number 200. The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology; Retrieved 3/25/2008 from The Birds of North America Online database
- Cameron, E. S. 1907. The birds of Custer and Dawson counties, Montana. Auk 24(3):389-406.
- Ehrlich, P., D. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The birder’s handbook: a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. Simon and Schuster Inc. New York. 785 pp.
- Hays, R., R.L. Eng, and C.V. Davis (preparers). 1984. A list of Montana birds. Helena, MT: MT Dept. of Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
- Johnsgard, P.A. 1992. Birds of the Rocky Mountains with particular reference to national parks in the northern Rocky Mountain region. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. xi + 504 pp.
- Joslin, Gayle, and Heidi B. Youmans. 1999. Effects of recreation on Rocky Mountain wildlife: a review for Montana. [Montana]: Montana Chapter of the Wildlife Society.
- Lenard, S., J. Carlson, J. Ellis, C. Jones, and C. Tilly. 2003. P. D. Skaar's Montana bird distribution, 6th edition. Montana Audubon, Helena, MT. 144 pp.
- Montana Bird Distribution Committee. 2012. P.D. Skaar's Montana bird distribution. 7th Edition. Montana Audubon, Helena, Montana. 208 pp. + foldout map.
- Oechsli, L.M. 2000. Ex-urban development in the Rocky Mountain West: consequences for native vegetation, wildlife diversity, and land-use planning in Big Sky, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Montana State University, Bozeman. 73 p.
- Salt, W.R. and J.R. Salt. 1976. The birds of Alberta. Hurtig Publishers, Edmonton, Alberta. xv + 498 pp.
- Sater, S. 2022. The insects of Sevenmile Creek, a pictorial guide to their diversity and ecology. Undergraduate Thesis. Helena, MT: Carroll College. 242 p.
- Sibley, D. 2014. The Sibley guide to birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY. 598 pp.
- Skaar, P. D., D. L. Flath, and L. S. Thompson. 1985. Montana bird distribution. Montana Academy of Sciences Monograph 3(44): ii-69.
- Skaar, P.D. 1969. Birds of the Bozeman latilong: a compilation of data concerning the birds which occur between 45 and 46 N. latitude and 111 and 112 W. longitude, with current lists for Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, impinging Montana counties and Yellowstone National Park. Bozeman, MT. 132 p.
- Taylor, D.M. and C.H. Trost. 1987. The status of historically rare of unrecorded birds in Idaho. Unpublished manuscript. 68 p.
- U.S. Forest Service. 1991. Forest and rangeland birds of the United States: Natural history and habitat use. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Agricultural Handbook 688. 625 pages.
- Watts, C.R. and L.C. Eichhorn. 1981. Changes in the birds of central Montana. Proceedings of the Montana Academy of Sciences 40:31-40.
Web Search Engines for Articles on "Rusty Blackbird"
Additional Sources of Information Related to "Birds"

Take us with you!

Look for this PDF icon as you search and browse. Click it to build a custom PDF with species shown on that page or for all the species within that taxonomic level. To create your own list of species, use the PDF Creator tool at the bottom of the Advanced Search page.

Here's some links if you want to download a whole group.

Dragonflies / Damselflies

Ferns and allies

Conifers

Flowering Plants (Dicots)

Flowering Plants (Monocots)

Citation for data on this website:
Rusty Blackbird — Euphagus carolinus. Montana Field Guide. Montana Natural Heritage Program and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Retrieved on December 23, 2025, from https://FieldGuide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=ABPBXB5010