Since we had a nice break in the weather, Harold &
Karen Cottet and I ventured out to Liberty Lake to
seek out the reported grackle. Although Brian Miller
originally had seen it in the Burger King parking lot,
we initially failed to turn it up. After checking the
strip mall lots on both sides of the boulevard, we
decided to cruise around the adjacent subdivisions.

Around the lake we found, American Kestrel, a Merlin,
and flock of 20 Bohemian Waxwings. Upon returning to
the fast food strip mall, I decided to park in the
Burger King lot and hopefully wait for the grackle to
reappear. After watching Starlings probing around the
edge of the parking lot for about ten minutes, the
COMMON GRACKLE flew up on a light pole and then
alighted on the Burger King sign. The long keel-shaped
tail, bright yellow eyes, and strong decurved beak
left little doubt as to it's identity. The grackle
flew behind the Burger King and began feeding on some
pizza crust in front of a pizza parlor.

We made our grackle sighting at 2:30 PM on Monday,
1/12/04; the location is just south of the I=90 exit
for Liberty Lake (DL: Pg. 89, C8).

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA





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