Hello, tweets.

Netta and I were out in the Columbia Basin today and couldn't resist stopping at Potholes State Park. We saw the male Common Grackle within 5 minutes of arriving at about 2:00 pm! Got lots of photos, including with a male Brewer's Blackbird. It was feeding on wood-chip litter under the line of poplars on the west side of the big campground for several minute, then suddenly flew off to the southwest, out over the sagebrush and out of sight. That seemed odd to me, especially because it appeared to be carrying something in its bill. If that was food, that's very exciting, possibly indicating breeding. What happened to the second bird that was seen at the beginning. Could that be a female now on a nest? At this latitude in the East, egg-laying is well along by late April.

This is totally speculative, as I couldn't see that what it was carrying was definitely food. Could it have been some bit of wood chip hanging from its bill? That didn't seem likely, but who knows. Anyway, others going out there should be aware of this possibility.

Dennis
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Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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