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Mar. 24th, 2004 06:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanWhile flipping through a field guide this morning (NERD!) I discovered that I have made a reporting error! At some point, I said that the boat-tailed grackle (Quiscalus major a big black bird that makes a wonderful cacophany of metallic noises) was the most common urban bird we saw in Las Vegas. Oops! That bird isn't known to occur in Las Vegas, so either we made a fascinating discovery, or an error. We weren't looking closely enough to make a discovery.
The real most common urban bird of Las Vegas is the great-tailed grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus, a different species of big black bird that makes a wonderful cacophany of metallic noises). Honestly, there isn't a whole hell of a lot of difference between these two. Fortunately, there is very little overlap in their ranges in North America. I saw the boat-tailed in Jacksonville, Florida, and the great-tailed in Las Vegas.
In Las Vegas, I was in my brother's residential neighborhood, in my wedding suit, getting ready to test ride my brother's bike, when I said "which one of your neighbor's has a parrot?" The parrot-like calls (in intensity, really, more than tone) were male great-tailed grackles.
Now I'm planning on maybe checking out the black birds down on the Riverway. I'd assumed they were common grackles (Quiscalus quiscula, medium sized black birds that make a wonderful cacophany of metallic noises), but upon browsing the field guide (NERD!) it seems like they may be rusty blackbirds! (Euphagus carolinus)
The real most common urban bird of Las Vegas is the great-tailed grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus, a different species of big black bird that makes a wonderful cacophany of metallic noises). Honestly, there isn't a whole hell of a lot of difference between these two. Fortunately, there is very little overlap in their ranges in North America. I saw the boat-tailed in Jacksonville, Florida, and the great-tailed in Las Vegas.
In Las Vegas, I was in my brother's residential neighborhood, in my wedding suit, getting ready to test ride my brother's bike, when I said "which one of your neighbor's has a parrot?" The parrot-like calls (in intensity, really, more than tone) were male great-tailed grackles.
Now I'm planning on maybe checking out the black birds down on the Riverway. I'd assumed they were common grackles (Quiscalus quiscula, medium sized black birds that make a wonderful cacophany of metallic noises), but upon browsing the field guide (NERD!) it seems like they may be rusty blackbirds! (Euphagus carolinus)
