Maestro

I have mixed feelings about the Common Grackles (Quiscalus quiscula)who have decided to make our property home for the last week. On the one hand, they are beautiful and entertaining to watch. But on the other hand, they are bigger than most of the other feeder birds and they tend to take over the feeders, not allowing the other birds to eat. I'm thinking that they will move on as the temps start to rise over the next few days ... at least I hope that's what happens. There are currently somewhere between 30 and 40 of them out back.

And for those of you who wonder if I made that rather comical name up...I didn't. According to Mr Wiki...

Grackle is the common name of any of eleven passerine birds native to North and South America. They belong to various genera in the icterid family. In all the species with this name, adult males have black or mostly black plumage.

They are omnivores which means that they'll really eat just about anything - they aren't picky. And, they'll happily steal treats from other birds given half a chance. Highly social birds, in the non-breeding season they forage and roost in communal flocks, sometimes numbering in the hundreds or even thousands. Luckily, my little group is relatively small.

I took this through the window so I sharpened the image a little and cropped it slightly. I like this shot because it captures a bit of the personality of the bird, as well as it's beautiful iridescent feathers. The colors you see here are true.

I posted two other grackles, a blue jay and a characteristically upside-down nuthatch on Flickr, starting HERE.

Thank you all so very much for all the wonderful birthday wishes yesterday - what a lovely bunch of people you are. I shall try to catch up a bit tonight, but apologize in advance that I'll be off line much of the weekend as we have company coming for the Super Bowl.

Dinner last night was just lovely and completely delicious. I think we both needed it. I didn't want to say much yesterday, but my hubs' father was admitted to the hospital in Alabama yesterday morning. His health has been declining in the last months and he took a sharp downward turn early in the week. He is to be in the hospital for an indeterminate period of time for testing and treatment. He's not happy about being in the hospital, unfortunately.

Happy Friday, good people.

Debbi