Subject: hybrid grackle
Date: Jul 6 16:59:11 2002
From: ian paulsen - ipaulsen at krl.org


HI ALL:
Awhile back I joked about the Yakima Grackle breeding with Brewer's to
produce a "Brewgrack". I was reading through the latest issue of Western
Birds and inthe 1999 California Bird Record Committee report, on page 28
they mention this:
" What was thought initially to be perhaps CA 1st purple grackle (Q.q.
stonei/ quiscula) summered at Preisker Park in Santa Maria, SBA, 8 may- 5
jul 1999. It assisted a pair of Brewer's blackbirds in raising their
young, bringing food to the nest in late may (often being chased by the
blackbirds when doing so) and feeding fledglings in late June. Although
this bird's size and shape resembled those of a common grackle, the bird's
courtship displays (given only to brewer's blackbirds) and tail cocking
recalled the great-tailed grackle, whereas the vocalizations were similar
to those of a brewer's blackbird. Additionally, several plumage features
on this bird were not typical of any race of common grackle. in
particular, it did not have the typical strogly contrasting hood of a
common grackle, usually bluish in versicolor and stonei and purple in
quiscula. The uniform purple back of the Santa Maria bird was inconsistent
with that of a common grackle, which should be bronze (versicolor), green
(quiscula), or purple with variegated and barred patterning (stonei). The
uniformly purple wing coverts were also atypical of purple grackles, which
generally have blue coverts. a hybrid brewer's blackbird x great-tailed
grackle could explain the behavioral and plumage features of this bird,
and most committee members felt that this was indeed the individual's
identity." Has anyone considered blackbird x grackle hybrids regarding the
recent common grackle records from WA?

Ian Paulsen
Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
ipaulsen at krl.org
A.K.A.: "Birdbooker"
"Rallidae all the way"