Hello Tweeties!


I noticed the posts about grackles in Ellensburg. In the years since
I left Bakersfield, CA (1992) Great Tailed Grackles have established
themselves in the parks and parking lots around town. On my last trip
to BFL I discovered them in a park north east of town on the Kern
River. I heard these strange noises coming from a tree near where I
parked my car. At first I thought it was a scrub jay or mockingbird,
but it was way too loud. I then thought it was a very loud Brewer's
Blackbird. The sounds became very familiar - I spent the better part
of my childhood in Oklahoma and Illinois. Something large and black
flew over my head and landed in the shade of a nearby tree. It was
large and glossy purple-ish black with an incredible tail. It
strutted around making loud clucking noises and was soon joined by
other glossy, flashy black comrades - all strutting around and
occasionally "hop-flying" to catch low flying bugs. I stared at
these "proud" birds. "Grackles?" "Grackles in Kern County?" "Great
tailed grackles?"

I know they can be serious agricultural pests - just ask any Illinois
farmer, but these great tailed grackles are incredibly beautiful
birds. I wrote to Ted Murphy a former zoology instructor at Cal State
University Bakersfield and he told me they expanded their range into
Kern County about ten to twelve years ago.

I wonder if those flashy cousins of the Brewer's and Redwing
Blackbirds will expand northward. I'd love to have some of them
strutting around my property.


Lydia Gaebe Bishop
Snohomish, WA