Monday, February 12, 2018

A Common grackle visits alone. . . . . . . . . .



When Common grackles appear they are often in huge numbers - I've seen
several hundred appear at one time!  They can be a noisy nuisance in a small
 garden, also quite ominous, like a scene from the classic 1964 horror/suspense
 movie, "The Birds" directed by Sir Alfred Hitchcock.

A large black bird, 11-13", it sports an iridescent blue black head, 
purple brown body, long black tail, long thin bill, and very bright golden eyes.
Usually flying with other black birds in large flocks, it's known to feed in
 farmers' fields, dining on fruits, seeds and insects.
When a flock comes to the garden, thankfully not often, we shoo them
away and they fly up into the trees making their loud raspy calls.

This wet weekend, a single grackle arrived in the fig tree, looking lonely
 and apparently feeling hungry, it hopped onto the feeder and nibbled away
 for several minutes.
Probably a first for me, actually getting a photo of a grackle this close
 up, and through the window, so that the beautiful coloring is visible.

~ Common grackle : Quiscalis quiscula ~

A very colorful black bird, which isn't really black but a mix of beautiful colors.
Nature is very adept with her paintbrushes!


6 comments:

  1. Hi Mary :) Oh The Birds!!! One of my favourite Hitchcock's! We have gaggles of grackles here in the summer mostly, they are kind of scary looking birds, those eyes look pre-historic to me. I'm an animal spirit buff...if you see a grackle, usually there is a message to look beyond what you perceive, not everything is how it appears to be. :) Also another symbol of the grackle is move beyond talking about something and take action.

    I find that when birds who seem to flock in large numbers show up in front of me solo, that they have a little message to give me! :)

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  2. We used to get them in the hundreds when we lived in rural Tennessee. The would clean out our feeder in seconds! You got amazing picture!

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  3. I love your grackle picture! Oh The Birds! I have visited the school house where that movie was filmed. It was not far from where I grew up in California.

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  4. Such a pretty bird! I have that same bird feeder, but a bear got hold of it and destroyed it....I guess I should say that I HAD that bird feeder :(

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  5. I have a solo grackle visit me daily...wish I knew why he is alone.

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