The Rusty Blackbird Winter Hot Spot Blitz is coming up on February 7-15, 2009! The Rusty Blackbird is one of the fastest declining North American birds. This is another great birding event that you can participate in. 

Based on data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and the Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC), the bird has suffered an estimated loss of between 85 and 97% of its population over the past 40 years. In Virginia the Rusty Blackbird has been identified as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need. 

Despite the species’ critical status, our knowledge of many aspects of its distribution and ecology are rudimentary. Like the BBS and CBC, the Rusty Blackbird Winter Hot Spot Blitz aims to harness the power of the birding community to collect baseline information as a starting point for future monitoring and conservation activities.  For more information on the survey visit http://ebird.org/content/va.

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