Check out this Rusty Blackbird!
I spotted it a couple days ago at Lake Betz in Morrisville NC.
While I’d have preferred to photograph it with some kind of wooded background (instead of the featureless sky) I was stoked to get a couple of “close up” pics of this understated beauty in frame.

As their name implies, non breeding male Rusty Blackbirds have a unique rusty mottled appearance with a copper colored edging pattern overlaying their glossy black plumage.
*Breeding males are overall glossy iridescent black.
Because the female’s are dressed in a buff plumage, they are often mistaken for female and juvenile grackles so the easiest way to make a solid ID is to look for their light yellow eyes.
Rusty’s also tend to hold their tails straight up while foraging on the ground which can help you ID them when their feeding in a mixed flock of other Blackbirds or grackles.

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Rusty Blackbirds are a winter visitor to North Carolina. They appear more numerously in the central part of the state but may be found in varying numbers in the lower elevations of the mountains to our west and in our eastern counties as well.
Look for them in wet habitats such as bogs, marshes, swamps and along the shorelines of small ponds from November through March.
Aren’t they lovely?

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5