Subject: [Tweeters] Common Grackle beside Lower Crab Creek
Date: Apr 13 15:35:17 2008
From: David Parent - dpdvm at whidbey.com


Hello Tweeters,



Sorry for the late report. On Friday and Saturday, April 11 and 12, I took a
canoe trip down Crab Creek from E Road SE (east of Royal City) to the
creek's mouth on the Columbia River. While paddling down the creek on
Saturday morning about 10am I saw a large Icterid perched in a Russian Olive
tree with several Red-winged Blackbirds and a Yellow-headed Blackbird. As we
approached closer, I noticed a large flared tail and pale eye. This bird was
much larger than the surrounding blackbirds but the body was not large
enough, nor was the tail long enough, to be a Great-Tailed Grackle, which I
have frequently seen in Texas and Arizona. The light was not such that I
could identify any iridescence patterns.



The sighting occurred on what I believe to be a private ranch on the south
bank of Crab Creek. There were a number of Angus cattle in the area. The
location was slightly northeast of the community of Smyrna on Lower Crab
Creek Road and cannot be approached by road. As I fumbled to grab my camera
and keep the canoe on course, the bird flew to the southeast before I could
get a picture.



Any birders in the area of Smyrna should keep their eyes open for this bird.




Dave Parent, Freeland, WA, dpdvm at whidbey.com