For those interested in this
perhaps-not-chaseable bird posted earlier this
morning, for what it's worth, below is a
description of my sighting?.



Description of COMMON GRACKLE, Quiscalus quiscula
23 October 2004, 08:15 a.m.
Portland, OR, Multnomah Co.
SW 34th Ave. at Multnomah Village


At around 08:15 I had been in my front yard for
10 minutes or so, and had my bird ears on, since
it was obvious this would be a good migration
day, as the weather was clearing and several
goose flocks were in the air overhead. I was
about to start gardening work when I heard a
repeated "chuck" or "check" call note. It sounded
blackbird-like or grackle-like, and at first I
assumed it was probably one of the neighborhood
starlings. (In the past several weeks they had
taken to mimicking blackbird call notes, after a
period in which Red-wings had flown over the yard
with some frequency.) But these notes I was
hearing now sounded a bit different -- more like
a real blackbird, but a bit fuller and perhaps
lower-pitched.

I looked up to see a bird teed up at the top of a
neighbor's Douglas fir. Immediately the shape
looked wrong for a blackbird. It was more the
shape of a scrub jay, as it looked longer,
flatter-headed, bigger-billed, bigger-tailed than
a blackbird would, and its posture wasn't quite
right. The call note plus the shape of the bird
made me immediately think "Common Grackle,"
familiar as I was with them from years growing up
birding in the eastern U.S. But I refused to
believe that possibility and ran into the garage
to grab my binoculars.

Through binoculars I had the same impressions of
overall shape and size as I'd had with the naked
eye, but could now begin to see field marks. The
viewing conditions were not good -- the bird was
perhaps 40 m away and there was a light fog. The
fog prevented any real perception of actual
color, but differences in hue were still visible.

The bird had a larger longer bill than a
blackbird would have, and a flatter crown. The
tail looked long, and the bird's overall size
looked larger than a blackbird. The bird appeared
dark blackish all over, but there was a clear
contrast between the head/nape/throat/breast
region and the rest of the body. This upper
region appeared iridescent, apparently with a
purplish sheen. The rest of the body looked
duller, with an apparent brownish or bronzy hue.
The contrast between these two portions of the
body was fairly clear-cut, even in the fog.

The bird's eye was clearly white, and it stood
out against the dark face even at such a
distance. I saw this again and again, from both
eyes, as the bird repeatedly turned its head and
twisted its body while calling.

Having confirmed the white eye, I was finally
allowing myself to believe that I was looking at
a Common Grackle. The entire time the bird had
continued calling, and the call note continued to
ring true to what I'd heard so many countless
thousands of times from years past and recent
visits in the East.

After about 60-90 seconds or so, the bird lifted
off and flew to the southeast, still calling in
flight. I saw that the tail was indeed long, and
that it was rounded and flared out toward the
tip, hanging a bit heavy from its body in flight
in the way that grackle tails do. In flight, as
when it was perched, the shape was entirely wrong
for a blackbird and entirely right for a grackle.
The size, shape, and tail size, however, were too
small for Great-tailed Grackle, a species I'm
familiar with from years spent in Arizona and
elsewhere.

I ran down the street after the bird, clomping
along in my gardening boots, and spent a few
minutes vainly searching and listening, a
curiosity to the folks getting their morning
coffee at Starbucks on the corner. I then
returned home, grabbed my camera, put on
sneakers, and spent an hour walking the
neighborhood streets in the direction it had
flown -- but to no avail. I sneaked a quick peek
at the Sibley Guide and at BOGR before posting on
OBOL & Tweeters to be sure I wasn't about to make
a fool of myself, then posted a message, then sat
down to write this description without further
use of books or recordings.


Elimination of similar species:

Silhouetted Scrub Jay in the fog: Despite the
foggy conditions, the blackish color of the bird
was not an illusion, I am sure; nor was the eye
color or the contrast between head and body. In
addition, the bird's call note, repeated dozens
of times, could clearly not have been uttered by
a Scrub Jay. Finally, upon looking at a couple of
Scrub Jays immediately afterwards in my walk
through the neighborhoods, I was struck by the
fact that their bill size looked considerably
smaller in relation to their head size then the
bill:head ratio that I'd seen on my bird.

Red-winged Blackbird: White eye rules it out,
along with distinctly different (larger/longer)
shape and size and tail and bill. No wing patch
was evident. Call note of my bird sounded
slightly different than a Red-wing, somewhat
fuller and perhaps lower-pitched.

Brewer's Blackbird: Males would have white eye
and iridescence, but would not show the shape and
size and long tail and large bill of my bird.
Also, the pattern of iridescence on the body
would have been different; Brewer's would not
show the clear-cut contrast between two body
regions in the location I saw it. Finally,
Brewer's call note is higher-pitched and lighter
and "drier"-sounding to my ear than Red-winged,
such that my bird's call was even more different
from Brewer's than it was from Red-winged.

Rusty Blackbird: Males would have white eye, and
call note would probably be more difficult to
separate from Grackle. But my bird had no
apparent rusty coloration, and, as stated above,
was of a different size and shape than blackbirds.

Great-tailed Grackle: My bird was not as
distinctly large and long as a Great-tailed
Grackle. The body and tail were shorter and less
conspicuous. This was clear both perched and in
flight. In addition, although Great-tailed do
have a "chuck" note, they typically don't utter
it very much, instead giving their assortment of
bizarre vocalizations. Common Grackles, on the
other hand, very frequently and repeatedly give
the "chuck" or "check" call note, especially in
flight but often perched as well.

No other passerine birds were in view at the time
for comparisons. Binoculars used were Bushnell
8x42s. Bird was to the SW of me, at top of a
15-20-m tree, at distance of perhaps 35-40 m. I
will attempt no speculation as to sex, age, or
subspecies. No photos or other documentation
could be obtained.


Jay Withgott
Portland, OR
withgott at comcast.net

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