Bird

Rusty Blackbird

Euphagus carolinus

A winter visitor to Virginia, found in all 133 counties and cities and 19 habitats.

Here: Winter
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: All 133 counties and cities
Habitats: 19

Male Rusty Blackbird, whole bird — **Male**. (c) Derek Spencer, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 492319024. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: Winter
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: All 133 counties and cities
Habitats: 19
Habitat models: Winter

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in Virginia 19

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 19

WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; South-Central Interior Small Stream and RiparianFrederic Edwin Church, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina (1865-70): a boulder-strewn mountain river under autumn-coloured ridges. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Shown: North Carolina mountains (Frederic Edwin Church, oil sketch 1865-70; Cooper Hewitt), a neighboring state.Drawing, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina, 1865–70, Frederic Edwin Church, 1865-1870. Public domain. Source record.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall; Central Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems; Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier; Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression SwampWilliam McIlvaine, The Chickahominy Swamp (1862): wind-tossed swamp trees standing in dark water under a storm. Chickahominy Swamp, VirginiaThe Chickahominy Swamp LCCN2004661405, William McIlvaine (1813-1867), 1862. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal dunes and beaches

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.

WinterUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland

Depression ponds and limesinks

Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.

Winter

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier; Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier; South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier; Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems; Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian; South-Central Interior Large Floodplain

Freshwater tidal marshes

Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh

Hardwood and oak flatwoods

Flat, poorly drained uplands and terraces with oaks, sweetgum and sometimes loblolly pine, wet in winter and dry in summer, but neither a floodplain nor a swamp.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier

Mountain bogs and fens

Wet, open, peaty mountain wetlands fed by seepage, often with sphagnum moss.

Winter

Pine flatwoods

Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.

WinterCentral Atlantic Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods

Pine savannas

Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.

WinterCentral Atlantic Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods

Pocosins and bay forests

Dense evergreen shrub wetlands and bay forests on wet, acid peat of the Coastal Plain.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin; Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore

WinterOnly within 120 m of water.Appalachian Hemlock-Hardwood ForestRegional / representative. Shown: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee; representative habitat composite, not a documented exact viewpoint, a neighboring state.Hemlock forest / rocky mountain stream, Hynes, Robert 'Bob', by 2012. Public domain. Source record.

WinterOnly within 120 m of water.Southern Piedmont Mesic Forest; Southern and Central Appalachian Cove ForestHarvey Joiner, Woods Scene: tall beeches in a moist Kentucky woodland, light falling through a closed canopy onto a damp forest floor. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Shown: Kentucky beech woods (Harvey Joiner, Louisville painter of Kentucky beech forests; the painting does not name the site), a neighboring state.Woods Scene, Harvey Joiner, c. 1880-1920. Public domain. Source record.

WinterOnly within 120 m of water.Southern and Central Appalachian Cove ForestRegional / representative. Shown: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee; representative habitat composite, not a documented exact viewpoint, a neighboring state.Cove hardwood forest, Hynes, Robert 'Bob', by 2012. Public domain. Source record.

WinterOnly within 120 m of water.Pasture/HayLyell Carr, Black Mountain: a pasture and hayfield with a log barn, rail fence and grazing cow below the Black Mountains. Shown: Black Mountain, North Carolina (Lyell E. Carr), a neighboring state.Black Mountainlabel QS:Len,"Black Mountain", Lyell Carr, c. 1890-1912. Public domain. Source record.

Maritime forests and thickets

Salt-pruned forests and shrub thickets behind coastal dunes.

WinterOnly within 120 m of water.Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Maritime Forest

Mountain balds

Treeless grassy or shrubby summits and ridges in the high mountains.

WinterOnly within 120 m of water.Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Herbaceous Modifier

Other habitats in its models (48)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Virginia. Those recorded in Virginia first, the rest by region.

Elsewhere in the South (28)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Maritime Forest Winter, only within 120 m of water.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Winter.
Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Winter, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Maritime Forest Winter, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods Winter, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Mesic Hardwood Forest Winter, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Mesic Slope Forest Winter, only within 120 m of water.
Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Winter.
Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Winter.
Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Winter.
Mississippi River Riparian Forest Winter.
Ozark-Ouachita Mesic Hardwood Forest Winter, only within 120 m of water.
Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Winter.
South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Winter.
Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Winter, only within 120 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood Forest Winter, only within 120 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Winter, only within 120 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Winter.

Northeast (1)

North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Winter.

Midwest (1)

North-Central Interior Maple-Basswood Forest Winter, only within 120 m of water.

Land cover and other classes (18)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Winter.
Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Winter, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Winter, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Winter, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Winter.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Winter, only within 120 m of water.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Winter, only within 120 m of water.
Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Winter.
Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Winter.
South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.
Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.

All habitats

Seasons in Virginia

Winter: does not nest here, in all 133 counties and cities.

County or city

Food plants

Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Plants matched by genus.

No native plants of these genera are recorded in Virginia.

Plant genera in its diet records (1)

Zea 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Virginia

Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab), CC0 1.0.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in Virginia, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.

Rusty Blackbird uses many habitats in Virginia; these are its 3 most characteristic.