Yikes, looked at the calendar and startled myself. How did we get to the last page so quick!! Fortunately, we have a few more weeks before we call it a wrap and put a bow on our 17th year of blogging here at Intrigued. Talk about warp speed, now those years have really flown by. Weeks that will be spent getting ready for the big end of the year staff extravaganza (fingers crossed no repeat of the ambulance needed last year), finishing up the gifts for our family get togethers and eagerly getting packed to head south. These sub-zero windchill temps as of late are for the birds ha. Oh, and in between those activities trying to get some birding to close out the Average Year (link here). That page needs to be updated, but checked off number 315 with a Snowy Owl this afternoon. Ron is having a down year, but Brad has really kicked it in on his annual checks!
Most important is to make sure we continue to keep our readers entertained as they go about their own December agendas. For today, we are going to feature a feathered friend that always causes me to stop and pull out my mental cheat sheet.
Hit the jump to read more about this long tailed prismatic.
I can already feel the warmth coming off these pictures. These come courtesy of the pleasant temperatures in Gainesville, FL back in April of 2023. Side note, before the crescendo of comments about me getting my butt in gear on the photo backlog. Brad can attest I am working really, really hard to get some of the bigger trips processed. This April 2023 trip is completed and the Arizona trip last January will be done before the end of the weekend. I’d pat myself on the back, but I still have last April’s Texas trip to get through and a September Colorado outing taunting me on a daily basis – Time to put on the puppy eyes and go ask Linda for an intern…again.
Sorry, I digress. Back to April 2023.
I’ve previously covered what an incredible place the Sweetwater Wetlands Park is in Gainesville. I highly recommend stopping in and checking it out if you happen to be in the area – assuming my Florida based friends are already very familiar with it. This place is target rich for birds, Snakes (don’t tell Linda) and some of the biggest Alligators I’ve encountered. With all those subjects, you might find yourself overlooking some of the more “common” birds like the Grackle.
Admittedly, they can be a rather annoyingly loud bunch – especially those ones more commonly seen along the Rio Grande Valley. 9.999% of the time, you check the tail on those Texas sightings and assume they are of the Great-Tailed variety (link here). Those little wussy tails of the Common Grackle can be easily sorted out should one of those stray down there.
Things get a bit more difficult as you move up and around the Gulf Coast to the east. I know for a fact you can run into a situation around Galveston Island (East Beach) and according to the Cornell’s region maps there starts to be a definite overlap with another species as you make your way through Louisiana. Continuing east, the Great-Tailed sightings subside and the species you are looking at here takes over – the Boat-Tailed Grackle. At first glance I find it extremely easy to get the Great-Tailed and the Boat-Tailed confused. Again, the Common Grackles are in the southeast as well, but I assume that puny tailed variety gets laughed out of the area when the big tails enter the room.
The good news is there is a rather easy way to tell them apart if you can find an angle that allows light to shine on them – particularly the face. The males of both species will shimmer beautifully in the light so no advantage there (note, the females have a brown wash). The key to the identification is in the eyes. Remember that mental checklist I referenced earlier…well, it’s “GreYs and BloaTs”. As they say, learn it, live it, love it. I happen to only use the “e” version of grey, but it works with the boring “a” usage as well. Now to decipher the key. It is short for [Gre]ats [Y]ellow, [Bl]ack for B[oat-T]ails. Simple as that. The Great-Tailed variety, males and females) have a yellow eye and the Boat-Tails (males and females) have a dark eye.
Granted, this is usually only an issue when you are in an overlapping region, but it wouldn’t help to at least check-off any rarity opportunities outside those areas. All I got for you today folks, just wanted to show off some shimmering beauties and pass on a quick field ID tip that you may not be aware of.
Grab a tasty holiday beverage, flip on the Christmas tree and plop on that elf hat while you sit back and relax. Hell, why not listen to Shimmer from one of my favorite bands of all time – Fuel (link here) in honor of today’s featured feathered friend while you are at it.
Life Intrigued 