I'm hestitant to post this, as it is my first post on this forum, but here goes...  I several long looks at an unusual blackbird (2 actually) for me this afternoon.  They were feeding on wet soccer field at Macgruder Park in Hyattsville with a large group of robins.  It stayed around for a couple of hours, generally following the robins to and from the trees.

Field marks:  slightly smaller than the robins, white eye, buffy barring on the breast and around the neck onto the back, no mottles on the wings, smaller and straighter bill than grackle, straight tail without wedge shape of grackle. The buffy color highlighted the otherwise black feathers - not nearly as much brown as the rusty blackbird. The head, wings, tail feathers were all uniformly dark (color dependent on light).

It really looked exactly like the image in Peterson's field guide to eastern birds. Would a female rusty blackbird fit this description at all?

I've never seen a brewer's before, so you might take this with a grain of salt.  That said, everything seems to fit.  I did take a photo, but it's pretty abysmal.

I might try to go back tomorrow with a better camera.

Wendel Landes

Mt. Rainier, MD