The tail of this bird does not look like a grackle tail, and southern California would be a very unusual place to find a Common Grackle.
Duh!! Guess I should have checked my guide which doesn't show the Common Grackle in Calfornia.
Where I felt compelled to chime in again is from the repetition of Common Grackles not being in Southern California. Here I can confidently say this is incorrect. They are well established here now. They also are frequently seen in parking lots. Clearly their range has expanded since many field guides were last revised.
Are you sure you're not confusing Common Grackles with Great-tailed Grackles? AFAIK, Common Grackles are still considered vagrants in California; they certainly are in southern Nevada.
eBird shows only a handful of reports of Common Grackle this year and last in all of California: http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?src=...r=2010&eYear=2011&continue.x=28&continue.y=10
Most of the reports are from a single Supermarket parking lot in the LA area, so I think we know Kevin's appx location now ;-).
Best,
Jim
I think you're mistaken. See this: http://www.californiabirds.org/review.asp