The Cornell Lab of Ornithology web site allaboutbirds.org is my go to place when trying to figure out who is visiting my yard. Just yesterday, they released Merlin, a bird identification app for smart phones. Since I receive an iPhone for Christmas (my phones have all been pretty dumb up ’till now), you know I had to download Merlin.
So I started with this bird…
I entered the following information:
- Location: Milbridge, Maine
- Date: January 6
- Size: between a robin and a crow
- Main colors: black
- What was the bird doing: eater at a feeder
Now I’m pretty sure this is a Grackle, but it didn’t pop in the list of birds that might match my description. So I looked up the Grackle, read the description and then studied the map. Grackles don’t winter in these parts.
Nobody seems to have informed this Grackle that he should have headed south last month!
We have a couple large flocks of robins that have been sticking around all winter here in Central Mass for years. The other day I spotted a flock of male Eastern Bluebirds and right now I have a Rufus Sided Towhee visiting my feeder every day. Nature is odd.
Lamoine Maine has a group of 8 starlings. Have not seen grackle.
You may keep that grackle. We have 100’s here in Central Va. And they are quite a nuisance sometimes. Although I like seeing them swoop about in large cloud formations!
We had a Grackle at our feeder last week as well. And we’re further north than you, in Prince Edward Island, Canada. I think the Grackles had navigation problems this year!
Our misfit grackles need to hook up!
I usually see them here in flocks too. This guy is also unusual because he is alone.
I don’t know that I have spotted a starling. Or if I did I didn’t know what I was seeing!
Yup, he’s most definitely a grackle. In Texas, grand-tail grackles over-populate and are seen as pests because of their loud calls and their boldness towards humans (especially in parking lots where they will fight for food). I think they’re absolutely adorable, especially when they fluff up in anger. The (male) grackles here are just barely smaller than a pigeon, so this guy seems rather tiny comparing him to the mourning doves at the feeder.