Common Grackle - Bronzed Race
by J McCombie
Title
Common Grackle - Bronzed Race
Artist
J McCombie
Medium
Photograph - Untouched
Description
This piece has been featured in the FAA Group, "All Natural Beauty of this World".
Common Grackles are blackbirds that look like they've been slightly stretched. They're taller and longer tailed than a typical blackbird, with a flat head and a longer, more tapered and slightly downward curved bill and glossy-iridescent bodies. Grackles walk around lawns and fields on their long legs or gather in noisy groups high in trees, typically evergreens. They eat many crops (notably corn) and nearly anything else as well, including garbage. In flight their long tails trail behind them, sometimes folded down the middle into a shallow V shape.
Common Grackles appear black from a distance, but up close their glossy purple heads contrast with bronzy-iridescent bodies. Inland and northern mailes have unbarred bronzy backs; souteastern ones have iridescent bars. A bright golden eye gives grackles an intent expression. Females are slightly less glossy than males. Young birds are dark brown with a dark eye.
You’ll often find Common Grackles in large flocks, flying or foraging on lawns and in agricultural fields. They strut on their long legs, pecking for food rather than scratching. At feeders Common Grackles dominate smaller birds. When resting they sit atop trees or on telephone lines, keeping up a raucous chattering. Their song is a loud ascending squeak. Flight is direct, with stiff wingbeats. In flight, the wings appear short in comparison to the tail.
Common Grackles thrive around agricultural fields, feedlots, city parks, and suburban lawns. They’re also common in open habitats including woodland, forest edges, meadows, and marshes.
The common grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) is a large icterid which is found in large numbers through much of North America.
Adult common grackles measure from 28 to 34 cm (11 to 13 in) in length, span 36–46 cm (14–18 in) across the wings and weigh 74–142 g (2.6–5.0 oz). Common grackles are less sexually dimorphic than larger grackle species but the differences between the sexes can still be noticeable. The male, which averages 122 g (4.3 oz), is larger than the female, at an average of 94 g (3.3 oz). Adults have a long, dark bill, pale yellowish eyes and a long tail; its feathers appear black with purple, green or blue iridescence on the head, and primarily bronze sheen in the body plumage. The adult female, beyond being smaller, is usually less iridescent; her tail in particular is shorter, and unlike the males, does not keel (display a longitudinal ridge) in flight and is brown with no purple or blue gloss. The juvenile is brown with dark brown eyes.
Uploaded
August 10th, 2017
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