Backyard Birding - Mexican Grackle

This will be my first post in a series about birding, specifically. It's easy to take our winged friends for granted, especially when they all look like a "black bird" or a "small brown bird." I've come to appreciate the little differences in all the "small brown birds." Sometimes they have developed a very unique adaptation/behavior (the brown-headed cowbird lays her eggs in other species nests letting them rear her young) or have a funny name (Oak Titmouse) that makes me giggle like a 15-year old.

Moving to So Cal was a surprisingly rough adjustment. The climate and terrain of eastern LA is drastically different from my hometown and it very often made me feel homesick. I'm not the type of person who dwells on my sadness so, being the scientist I am, I made it into a game to puzzle out my new surroundings.

One morning, I was running down a palm-lined street and I heard a new and very interesting bird call. It was so foreign and haunting to my ears that I stopped dead and scanned the tree line for the source of such an odd call. I soon spotted dozens of dark brown/black birds that looked very much like a common blackbird but a little larger. I bolted home, hopped onto my computer and searched for almost an hour, trying to identify this species. My search lead me to identify these noisy birds as the Great-Tailed/Mexican Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus).

Photo Credit: ds-lands.com





This black-purple iridescent bird is very common to the southern United States from Louisiana into Southern California and down into Mexico and Central America. The males can be identified by their color and characteristically long tail and legs and are often surrounded by a flock of brown colored females and juveniles. These highly sociable birds are pretty entertaining to watch as males tussle for mates by displaying their impressive tail feathers and will nest at the highest point possible, be that a building or tree. While these birds are far from threatened, it's important to remember that every creature has its niche and a vital role to play in the ecosystem.

I spent some too much time documenting their beautiful calls from my own backyard today.

In the first video you can hear the loud call (around 0:12) and then some chut noises that indicate that the flock is being warned of my presence as I try to zoom in. In the second, you can only hear them in the first 10 seconds or so but I like that you can hear the initial call (from the male in the palm tree) and the response from the bird across the water way.



For more Grackle info/sounds/video, check out their profile at allaboutbirds.org

Also, if you like to do a little birding from time to time, I recommend this website where you can narrow down birds by color! Very helpful for the occasional birder.

**I promise video/image quality will be a bit better once I get my hands on a better camera :)