Brewer's Blackbird

Scientific Name: Euphagus cyanocephalus

Pictures: (click for larger images)

A male Brewer's Blackbird, near the UCLA Medical Plaza on Westwood Blvd.   9/14/05	A female Brewer's Blackbird, near the UCLA Medical Plaza on Westwood Blvd.  9/14/05	A male Brewer's Blackbird.  Half in the shadows, but oh well.  He was in a tree at the Campus Corner Eatery. 7/14/04
A female Brewer's Blackbird spars with a male House Sparrow for a bit of tortilla at Campus Corner!  Let's get ready to rrrrrumble!  This was back when taco Bell was still there.	Two female Brewer's Blackbirds... okay, I don't know what the hell they're doing.  Bathing themselves in the dirt, apparently, but it looked like they were just freaking out.  I watched them long enough to determine they were okay.  Weird birds.	A group of Brewer's Blackbirds: three females and one male.  Check out the female in mid-leap (click for larger pic).  This was somewhere in Westwood Village.  2/23/04

-Photos by Jason Finley

Description: Medium. 9" in length (beak to tail), smaller than a pigeon.  Male is solid black with brigt yellow/green eyes and slightly iridescent head.  Female is grayish brown all over, with dark eyes. Sound: Listen to a Brewer's Blackbird singing and calling!  Link is to the sound page for this bird from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds. Commonality/Seasonality: Very common, year-round. Location: All over campus.  They can especially be seen daily at the Campus Corner eatery (formerly Taco Bell, now Shorty's Subs & Athena's Greek) and on the grassy lawns along Le Conte. Notes: You will typically see at least several together, including males and females, and can often spot mates.  During Spring you can see the male do his courting display. Historical:  The Blackbirds are such businesslike workmen.  They go about their lawn workers' patrol so cheerfully and move aside for hurrying humans with only a mild-mannered "chuck" or two - then come right back, or else take it up again a few feet away.  I'm sure the Blackbirds will always be with us - and right welcome, too. -Miller, Loye.  "Birds of the Campus, University of California, Los Angeles," from University of California Syllabus Series, No. 300.  Text by Loye Miller, illustrations by Robert C. Stebbins.  Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1947.