Tweets,
Well, after birding numerous times in TX and AZ, I'm not sure I would travel anywhere just to see a grackle, but the pair we saw at the Ellensburg City Park on Umtanum Rd (town-side of the Yakima River) were quite striking--maybe it was just the shock of all of that sun, which helped the birds "show purple" so nicely. We had stopped for a picnic lunch there after slowly birding ourselves to that little park.

And speaking of purple, when we got home last night and looked in our various guides, we see that this is the Coastal (Purple) subspecies, and are wondering if that makes them more unusual here. I recall a Master Birder Class lecture a few years ago by Gordon Orians--he predicted that grackles would be the next birds to expand their range into WA, though I don't recall which species. (I think the Eurasian Collared-Dove has beaten them!) Has anyone from Kittitas Co. seen these birds? We were alerted to them by the out-of-place, loud call note. They were not far from the road on the evergreen (juniper?) shrubs near the road. They were larger than a nearby robin and the male was the most lovely purple. Both had the shocking yellow eyes. Shortly after my not-sneaky-enough approach, they flew off across the river with some smaller blackbirds, probably Brewers, maybe some starlings.

In case there are people who travel for grackles, I called Rachel Lawson to post the sighting. (Thanks, Rachel) We tried to re-locate them for a short while, but were eager to hit the road to Wenas. By the way, we were surprised to see or hear no Western Wood Pewees in E WA (or Willow Flycatchers along Hiway 12 & FS Roads.) On the other hand, Nashville Warblers and Hammonds Flycatchers were everywhere in appropriate habitat, and we saw at least 30 Lewis's Woodpeckers on Oak Creek Road out of Naches.
Penny Koyama, Bothell
plkoyama at verizon.net