I never did see that grackle, although I tried
repeatedly. Bob Kuntz saw it. I recall Bob's telling
me that he had gone along with the original ID as a
COGR at first, but later on realized that he had seen
a GTGR. As far as I know, the ID of that bird was
eventually agreed upon by all skilled observers, that
it was a Great-tailed and not a Common, but this is
just relying on my memory, since I dipped on it.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch







Given the ability and propensity of birds to move about and casually ignore our field guides as to where they
should be, anything's within the realm of possibility.
However, having spent my formative years and even a few more than that in the known range of the family of
grackles, Great-tailed Grackles are not only large birds, but considerably larger than their Common counterparts.
I did not see the Newhalem grackle but I did enter it on our 2007 county list as a Common. Unless otherwise
enlightened, I'll leave it as such. Again, anything's possible.


Cheerfully yours,
Joe Meche
B'ham





________________________________________________________________________
More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com