365 Urban Species. #080: Common Grackle

[urbpan]

Urban Species #080: Common grackle Quiscalus quiscula

To many people, a grackle is a mundane sight: a common blackbird feeding in a field or a suburban lawn. But in Boston, in March, we need all the harbingers of spring we can find, and the grackles' return should be as welcome as any. Their black feathers, caught in the sunlight, contain some of the loveliest irridescence of any of our common birds. And their grating call, like that of the European starling, is surprisingly complex. They return in early spring in huge numbers, all glossy purple and bronze, sounding like a hundred rusty hinges creaking and clattering (My partner, cottonmanifesto has described the sound of a flock of grackles as a "continuous car accident.")

Human use of the land over the past few centuries has been beneficial to the grackle. The clearing of the dense forests of the east helped their spread, and the farmland that replaced the forests provided new sources of food: not only the crops, but especially the rodents and insect pests of the crops. To the west, the ornamental shrubs and trees that now pepper the suburbs have allowed grackles to spread in that direction. In the south and southwest the common grackle is joined by much larger relatives. Along the coast of the southeast, and the Gulf of Mexico, there is the boat-tailed grackle Quiscalus major; throughout the southwest and expanding northeast, is the great-tailed grackle Quiscalus mexicanus. These two species are very similar--in fact they are sometimes considered the same species--and look a lot like common grackles but are much larger, with a much larger tail. Also the male and female look more different from one another than in the common grackle, females of the large species are brown and smaller than the males. All three grackle species are urban--in parts of Las Vegas for example, a challenging city for an urban naturalist, the great-tailed grackle is the most conspicuous urban bird.

Comments

[punkydolly.livejournal.com]

I'm learning so much here - 'specially as I am a Brit so many of these species are exotic to me. I like your comparison of the grackle to the starling, a bird I know and love dearly, how I would love to see and hear a flock of grackles!

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I tried to get a video/audio the other day, but wasn't very successful. I'll try again when I see more. :)

[punkydolly.livejournal.com]

cool! :-D

[agelena.livejournal.com]

In Dallas, their most common food source seems to be french fries.

[serendith.livejournal.com]

The grackles here overwinter (or at least are not gone much as far as I can tell) and have recently discovered my birdfeeder. In general I don't mind but it is becoming a little harder to keep it full because I like to put out "healthier food" (stuff with fruit and nuts) in the feeder that isn't accessible to the squirrels and now the grackles are polishing it off rather quickly.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I couldn't figure out how to work it into the article, but common grackles are year-round residents in most of their range. They only migrate away in the most northern part of their range, including just barely Boston.

[serendith.livejournal.com]

Yeah - they feel like they are here for the most part but often get less noticeable for the few weeks we have "winter". This year wasn't that harsh so I didn't notice it as much. The same thing happens with my pond residents - in the harsh winters they abandon my pond (for likely a lake) but generally if it stays mild some, like my kingfisher, never leave.

[drocera.livejournal.com]

I can spend hours watching the grackles at my bird feeder!

[artemii.livejournal.com]

for reasons i've never been able to fully figure out, common grackles are as uncommon in this part of the city as cedar waxwings and purple finches.