On Sunday morning, I became the only person in Austin, TX to become excited about seeing grackles. That’s because 8 Common Grackles showed up, and while they’re as common as air around here, they rarely come to my yard, and this is the first time they’ve come since I started doing Project FeederWatch.
As if that wasn’t enough. 3 European Starlings, another common local bird but a rarity in my yard, stopped by for a round of vigorous splashing in the backyard birdbath.
This is a happy discovery I’ve made about listing: even if a newly listed bird is extremely common and I’ve seen it a million times in every parking lot in town, getting to add it to my list makes the bird new.
I watched the grackles for a long time, marveling at the dark sheen of their iridescent feathers, their bright laser-intense eyes and their long sharp bills. They are wonderful birds to watch and those shadow-colored birds look so great among all the other avian colors. A backyard needs some black (even if it’s really dark purplish) around the feeders.
Despite a name that’s fun to say, the grackle gets a bad rap around here. Of, course it’s easy to appreciate them when you don’t have a flock of thousands roosting in your trees, and so, I’m glad they came by, but I hope they don’t bring too many more friends, unless they show up with their Great-tailed kin so I can add another bird to my count.
Last summer, a pair nested in the neighbor’s tree and they brought their fledglings around to our feeders where I got some nice shots of junior begging for and getting a peanut from one of his parents. They also made sure their young knew where to find the birdbaths. Their bathing habits surprised me: they are probably the most frequent bathers of all my backyard birds. Not bad for a bird that many consider filthy.
Other than the grackles and starlings, all of the usual suspects made an appearance. Some quick observations:
- House Sparrows seem to be coming around a bit more.
- A wren built a nest in my neighbor’s plant.
- White-wing Doves are increasing as the weather warms.
- For the second week in a row, I only saw one each of the American and Lesser Goldfinches, and no goldfinches on Sunday. I wonder if the warm weather and weeds that are sprouting have inspired them to seek wild food, or in the case of the American Goldfinches, head north. I hope not, as I was hoping to see them in their breeding plumage.
- Still no hummingbirds yet. Probably next weekend.
The Week 17 Count, which has the greatest number of species seen, thus far:
- White-winged Dove (12)
- Mourning Dove (2)
- Blue Jay (2)
- Carolina Chickadee (1)
- Black-crested Titmouse (2)
- Carolina Wren (2)
- Bewick’s Wren (2)
- American Robin (1)
- Northern Mockingbird (1)
- European Starling (3)
- Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
- Chipping Sparrow (8)
- Northern Cardinal (2)
- Common Grackle (8)
- House Finch (2)
- Lesser Goldfinch (1)
- American Goldfinch (1)
- House Sparrow (17)
My count for last weekend was sparse. We were in Houston, and so I only counted for a couple of minutes on Saturday morning and Sunday evening, but here is what I got for Week 16:
- White-winged Dove (5)
- Mourning Dove (1)
- Blue Jay (1)
- Carolina Chickadee (2)
- Black-crested Titmouse (2)
- Carolina Wren (1)
- Bewick’s Wren (2)
- American Robin (1)
- Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
- Chipping Sparrow (5)
- Northern Cardinal (2)
- House Finch (1)
- Lesser Goldfinch (1)
- American Goldfinch (1)
- House Sparrow (7)
If you’ve never watched a grackle through a good pair of binoculars, give it a go. They’re really quite exquisite birds.
Mike at 10000 Birds has a nice post celebrating grackles today. It seems that this weekend he also saw his first Common Grackles for the year.
For more on the Common Grackle, have a look at Common Grackle: The Overlooked Blackbird at Tails of Birding and, of course, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds: The Common Grackle.
Or, better yet, go out and find one to study. They’re everywhere.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
I really love the first photo! There’s some quality about it that makes it look like a painting. The grackle is indeed an interesting bird. I had one come to my feeders for the first time a few weeks back, too! It only stayed for a few minutes, and hasn’t been back since. You think you might have hummingbirds soon? That’s so cool! I think it will be several more weeks before they start to appear in Ohio.
The first black-chinned hummers showed up at my feeders on 3/17 in 2007 and 3/16 in 2008 so I expect them any day now. It would be nice to see one today since it’s a count day.
Thanks for your comments on the photo too.