All,

This is a pretty alarming statistic: Rusty Blackbird "numbers have plummeted
by as much as 88-98% over the last few decades, according to data gathered
between 1966 and 2006 for the North American Breeding Bird Survey and
Christmas Bird Count." You can read more about it here:

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/RUBL_Survey.html 

With the help of Steve Matsuoka and the Rusty Blackbird Working Group, eBird
has initiated a pilot study of RUBL migration. In this 'proof of concept'
study, we hope birders will get out and look specifically for Rusty
Blackbirds, and then report their observations to eBird between 1-7 April. 

If all goes well we can better tailor the survey for fall migration, and
possibly do some target outreach during winter as well.

There is little known about this species during migration, and we feel
strongly that eBirders can help fill in some of the gaps in that knowledge.

Please forward this around to other friends and other listservs! 

Contact eBird Project Leader Brian Sullivan () with any
questions.

Thanks,

Marshall Iliff
-- 

-------------------------------------------------
Marshall J. Iliff
West Roxbury, MA
miliff AT aol.com
-------------------------------------------------
eBird/AKN Project Leader
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850
http://www.ebird.org
http://www.avianknowledge.net
-------------------------------------------------