{"id":166679,"date":"2026-01-11T06:40:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T12:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=166679"},"modified":"2026-01-11T06:40:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T12:40:30","slug":"rusty-blackbird-and-snow-in-arkansas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/01\/11\/rusty-blackbird-and-snow-in-arkansas\/","title":{"rendered":"Rusty Blackbird And Snow In Arkansas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-166673 size-full\" title=\"Rusty Blackbird foraging in deep snow, Sebastian County, Arkansas\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0799.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0799.jpg\" alt=\"Rusty Blackbird foraging in deep snow, Sebastian County, Arkansas\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0799-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0799-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0799-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0799-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0799-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0799.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Rusty Blackbird foraging in deep snow<\/span><\/p>\n<p>One year ago today I sat on my friend <a href=\"https:\/\/stevecreek.com\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Steve Creek&#8217;s deck<\/span><\/a> with at least 10 inches of snow on the ground, photographing birds, including this sharp looking Rusty Blackbird.<\/p>\n<p>Rusty Blackbirds at the time were sort of a nemesis bird for me, having photographed only one in Utah, where this species is uncommon.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/05\/finding-two-uncommon-birds-in-one-week-rusty-blackbird-and-common-grackle\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Finding Two Uncommon Birds In One Week \u2013 Rusty Blackbird And Common Grackle<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"75\" data-end=\"254\">I had a terrific time photographing the Rusty Blackbirds from Steve&#8217;s deck with a thick blanket of snow on the ground. Not having to drive on slick snowy roads was a big part of that.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"256\" data-end=\"376\">The other part was knowing I could step back inside and be warm again in just a few steps. That alone felt like a win win.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-166672 size-full\" title=\"Rusty Blackbird on a snowy day in Arkansas, Sebastian County\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0807.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0807.jpg\" alt=\"Rusty Blackbird on a snowy day in Arkansas, Sebastian County\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0807-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0807-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0807-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0807-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0807-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0807.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Rusty Blackbird on a snowy day in Arkansas<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"114\" data-end=\"300\">I wasn&#8217;t going to share anything here today, but when I looked into my archives from a year ago, I realized that I had taken hundreds of Rusty Blackbird photos and had only shared a few!<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"114\" data-end=\"300\">This female Rusty Blackbird was very cooperative in the snow and freezing cold.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"302\" data-end=\"596\">There is no chance of snow today. It will be about 50\u00b0F and sunny, and it will be too warm this week for frozen precipitation. I haven&#8217;t seen any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/guide\/Rusty_Blackbird\/id\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Rusty Blackbirds<\/span><\/a> that I&#8217;ve been able to photograph this winter.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"302\" data-end=\"596\">I may or may not get the chance to have these blackbirds in my viewfinder this year.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"598\" data-end=\"639\">Who knows for sure, though? I sure don&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>I can keep my fingers crossed and hope the bird photography goddess provides me with some. \ud83e\udd1e<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/rusty-blackbird-images\/\">here<\/a><\/span> to see my Rusty Blackbird photo gallery plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One year ago today I sat on my friend Steve Creek&#8217;s deck with at least 10 inches of snow on the ground, photographing birds, including this sharp looking Rusty Blackbird.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13950,27,10688,13951],"tags":[4004,3813,3483,10765,10689,4070,4136,13931,4060,10690,4050,4328,15824,373,13966],"class_list":["post-166679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arkansas","category-avian","category-rusty-blackbirds","category-sebastian-county","tag-adult","tag-blackbird","tag-blackbirds","tag-deep","tag-euphagus-carolinus","tag-female","tag-foraging","tag-garden","tag-icterids","tag-rusty-blackbird","tag-snow","tag-snowy","tag-suburban","tag-winter","tag-yard"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rusty-blackbird-arkansas-snow-mia-mcpherson-0799.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-Hmn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":138670,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/01\/11\/superb-rusty-blackbird-in-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":166679,"position":0},"title":"Superb Rusty Blackbird In Snow!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"When my day starts with snow, an owl hooting in the pitch dark, and a smile on my face, I expect magic. Yesterday, that magic was a Rusty Blackbird in the snow.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Arkansas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Low light Rusty Blackbird in snowy conditions, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/rusty-blackbird-probable-female-snow-mia-mcpherson-7912.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/rusty-blackbird-probable-female-snow-mia-mcpherson-7912.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/rusty-blackbird-probable-female-snow-mia-mcpherson-7912.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/rusty-blackbird-probable-female-snow-mia-mcpherson-7912.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":139714,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/02\/10\/my-first-winter-in-arkansas\/","url_meta":{"origin":166679,"position":1},"title":"My First Winter In Arkansas","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Spring is only 38 days away, and I\u2019m wrapping up my first winter in Arkansas with a sense of appreciation for this new landscape and environment.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Arkansas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rusty Blackbird in deep snow, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/rusty-blackbird-female-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-7903.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/rusty-blackbird-female-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-7903.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/rusty-blackbird-female-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-7903.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/rusty-blackbird-female-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-7903.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75758,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/05\/finding-two-uncommon-birds-in-one-week-rusty-blackbird-and-common-grackle\/","url_meta":{"origin":166679,"position":2},"title":"Finding Two Uncommon Birds In One Week &#8211; Rusty Blackbird And Common Grackle","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Finding two uncommon birds this week at the same olive tree really has me buzzed and to finally see a Rusty Blackbird has made me feel like jumping over the moon.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult male Rusty Blackbird in nonbreeding plumage, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/rusty-blackbird-mia-mcpherson-8554.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/rusty-blackbird-mia-mcpherson-8554.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/rusty-blackbird-mia-mcpherson-8554.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/rusty-blackbird-mia-mcpherson-8554.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54829,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/11\/01\/male-brewers-blackbird-on-a-fence-post-with-fall-colors\/","url_meta":{"origin":166679,"position":3},"title":"Male Brewer&#8217;s Blackbird On A Fence Post With Fall Colors","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago I had a male Brewer's Blackbird in my viewfinder near Glover Pond in Davis County, I photographed him as he perched on a fence post with fall colors in the background.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Brewer's Blackbird checking out a fence post, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/brewers-blackbird-male-fence-post-fall-mia-mcpherson-4378.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/brewers-blackbird-male-fence-post-fall-mia-mcpherson-4378.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/brewers-blackbird-male-fence-post-fall-mia-mcpherson-4378.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/brewers-blackbird-male-fence-post-fall-mia-mcpherson-4378.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49405,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/11\/12\/female-brewers-blackbird-with-light-colored-eyes\/","url_meta":{"origin":166679,"position":4},"title":"Female Brewer&#8217;s Blackbird With Light Colored Eyes?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Within the flock of blackbirds there was a female Brewer's Blackbird that drew my attention to her because she had light colored eyes and stood out from the other females that were nearby.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Brewer's Blackbird with light eyes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/brewers-blackbird-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-1833.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/brewers-blackbird-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-1833.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/brewers-blackbird-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-1833.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/brewers-blackbird-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-1833.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":166404,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/01\/05\/videos-of-winter-blackbirds-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":166679,"position":5},"title":"Videos Of Winter Blackbirds At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 5, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"On the last day of 2025 I visited Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. I was able to take a video of a large flock of blackbirds lifting off.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Foraging flock of blackbirds at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-winged-blackbird-flock-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-winged-blackbird-flock-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-winged-blackbird-flock-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3755.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-winged-blackbird-flock-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3755.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}