I really love this shot because, from this angle,

the bird looks positively wicked, like some evil

bird in a Disney film. But it’s really just a

Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula).

24 April 2006.

The Grackles don’t visit

my feeders very often; I

don’t know why. I also

don’t know if they would

intimidate the other

birds; they certainly are

large enough to bully

other birds if they wanted

to, although I doubt

they’d deter a Chickadee

from getting to the

feeder for a seed...

chickadees aren’t

intimidated by anybody.

I remember how angry the Grackle in the old

Pogo comic strip became when someone would

call him a Starling. He would get a look on

his face similar to this bird here, and shout,

“I’m not a stupid Starling. Starlings are ugly...

I’m a Grackle!”

Here’s a migrant that comes through here in the Spring and Autumn every year, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus). This flamboyantly colored

mature breeding male was caught in my lens on 1 May, 2007.

As colorful as the male Grosbeaks are, I think that the females are also very pretty. I love the pattern of their white, brown and tans.

2 MAY 2007

© Bob Vuxinic

13 NOV 2010

© Bob Vuxinic

21 Mar 2012

© Bob Vuxinic

13NOV10

More Grosbeaks on the next page.