Blackbird or Grackle? (1 Viewer)

[adampaul]

Me again,

This is probably easy for those of you who've actually seen both of them, but I haven't, so there you have it....

This blotchy fellow seems to have an awfully heavy beak for a brewer's (or rusty) blackbird, but the tail seems small for a grackle, and the eye is the wrong color for any other Icterids in Sibley - what gives?

Taken on 19 July near San Francisco.

Regards,
_Adam

 

[Dave B Smith]

Adam,
You're right on the mark with your thought that it is a Grackle (I assume its a Great-tailed Grackle due to the location), and it's the large bill that you noted that clinches it. It appears to be a young male Grackle molting into its adult plumage. This is probably why the tail is not very long yet also.

 

[infatu8ion]

The eye colour immediately made me think it is some sort of Grackle, as I have seen them around while walking to class. o

 

[adampaul]

Hmm, Great-tailed looks a good deal bigger than this fellow, I think (hard to say, as my photo doesn't have any relative size cues, and I can't remember anything nearly so far away as two days ago!). OTOH Common Grackles are not generally seen around SF, AFAIK. Hmmm...

Thanks for confirming it's likely a grackle of some sort anyhow - that makes it a tick for me, yay! At least until someone rains on our parade here

_Adam

 

[oldsquaw]

A molting adult male Brewer's Blackbird to me. All grackles would be very rare that far north in Cal.

 

[Garrett Lau]

Hi Adam,

Was this at the Palo Alto Baylands? I saw a similar bird on the same day. It is too small to be a grackle. I believe it is a Brewer's Blackbird.

By the way, thanks for the compliment in an earlier thread.

--Garrett

 

[adampaul]

Hi Garrett,

Yes, in fact your photo is almost certainly the same specimen if you took it near the Duck Pond at the Baylands on the same day.

Although I'd rather it was a Grackle, I expect you're correct that it's a molting male Brewer's Blackbird.

I'm sure we'll probably cross paths there one of these days - I'm there most Tuesdays and/or Thursdays in the late afternoon to near sunset.

Rgds,
_Adam

 

[Garrett Lau]

Hi Garrett,

Yes, in fact your photo is almost certainly the same specimen if you took it near the Duck Pond at the Baylands on the same day.

Although I'd rather it was a Grackle, I expect you're correct that it's a molting male Brewer's Blackbird.

I'm sure we'll probably cross paths there one of these days - I'm there most Tuesdays and/or Thursdays in the late afternoon to near sunset.

Rgds,
_Adam

Yes, it was by the duck pond, an hour before sunset on Tuesday. I'm sure we'll see each other there sometime.

--Garrett