Common Grackle

I have no doubt that those of you who read The Bird and the Rock have been inwardly laughing at my preliminary guess at this bird's identity.  Well, those of you who know any thing about birds, that is.

I was primed for something different.  I'm from the desert, after all.  Sometimes, however, 'different' is no more than a slightly different appearance in something that you're familiar with.

That was the case here.

Quiscalus quiscula

Scientific Name:  Quiscalus quiscula

Common Name: Common Grackle

Color:  Predominantly black.  Green, blue, or purple irridescence, especially along the head.

Size:  Medium sized bird, but large for blackbirds in general.  length ranges between 11 and 14 inches.

Distinguishing Characteristics:  Yellow eyes.

Yep.  It was a simple grackle.  In my defense, it looked nothing like the grackles in the desert that I'm familiar with.  I knew it wasn't a crow - their eyes are black.  Raven was wrong as well, mainly because ravens are gigantic, and have the ugliest beaks I've ever seen.  How in the world did I manage to confuse a grackle with a starling, though, you ask?

Very good question.  I think it happened because I wanted to see something different.  I've never seen a starling.  Sometimes what we want to see causes us to look at things through a sort of fog-like haze of imagination.  Imagination is a good and wonderful thing, but shouldn't cause us to lose sight of reality.  Let my mistake be a lesson!

I'm actually not upset about this being a common grackle, however.

Grackles are amazing creatures if you allow yourself to stop looking at them as pests.  They're extremely intelligent birds. 

I used to watch grackles steal food from my dog's dish, then dip the food into the water bowl a few times before deciding it was ready for consumption.  This wasn't a single, overly intelligent bird, this was many of them.  They have clear problem solving abilities that make them easy for me to spend time observing for quite a while!

Indeed, I wanted to see what else I could find out about the high intelligence of the common grackle, and discovered not one, but two videos posted on Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies.  They're definitely worth a look-see.

My grackle was most certainly a male.  It was very large, and very black, shimmered with brilliant shades of purple and blue.  Females on the other hand, are smaller, and well, not so colorful, having more of a dull brown coloration. 

Also, my grackle visitor was very well fed, and very healthy.  This is perhaps the main reason for why I didn't recognize what it was.  I'm used to grackles being rather skinny and unhealthy looking.

This one was, without a doubt, gorgeous!