''Euphagus'' is a small genus of American blackbirds. It contains two extant species: Brewer's blackbird, ''Euphagus cyanocephalus'', and rusty blackbird ''E. carolinus''. The living species are very similar medium-sized birds. Adult males have mainly black

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

and a bright yellow eye; females are dark gray-brown.

Extant species

A prehistoric relative, the large-billed blackbird (''Euphagus magnirostris''), is known from

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of the Pleistocene Epoch within ...

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...

s found in the famous tar seeps of

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, California, as well as the Talara Tar Seeps of northwestern

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and the Mene de Inciarte Tar Seep of

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. It may have been a close associate of

Pleistocene megafauna Pleistocene megafauna is the set of large animals that lived on Earth during the Pleistocene epoch. Pleistocene megafauna became extinct during the Quaternary extinction event resulting in substantial changes to ecosystems globally. The role of hu ...

communities and went extinct following the collapse of the megafauna populations.

Description

Both are migratory, wintering in the southern United States and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, although some Brewer's blackbirds are present all year in the western US. They build cup nests, and the female alone incubates the eggs. They are gregarious outside the breeding season. Both species feed on seeds and insects, the rusty having a particularly high insect component to its diet. The fortunes of the two species are contrasting, with Brewer's expanding east in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

region, while rusty shows a worrying decline in numbers.

References

*Jaramillo, Alvaro & Burke, Peter (1999): ''New World Blackbirds''.

Christopher Helm Christopher Alexander Roger Helm (born Dundee, 1 February 1937 – 20 January 2007) was a Scottish book publisher, notably of ornithology related titles, including the ''Helm Identification Guides''. Born in Dundee, he was raised in Forfar, w ...

, London. {{Taxonbar, from=Q2584697 Bird genera * Taxa named by John Cassin