Great-tailed Grackles are large, noisy blackbirds with long tails and long, sturdy bills. Males have yellow eyes, glossy black plumage with blue to purple iridescence. Females are about half the size of males and are a rich brown.
When I was at my local pond two days ago, I couldn't resist photographing a female Great-tailed Grackle whose eyes seemed to be aglow in the morning light.
When I took this photo of a male Great-tailed Grackle, I wondered what the grackle was looking at so intently. The grackle even seemed disturbed by what it could see.
This male Great-tailed Grackle caught my eye two days ago at one of my local ponds because he was displaying on a red-roofed cupola against a bright blue sky.
Today, I'm sharing a photo of a male Great-tailed Grackle perched on a weathervane. I took this photo while walking down at one of my local ponds last week.
On the last day of April, I had a bit of good luck when a female Great-tailed Grackle walked so close to me at a local pond that I could take portraits of her.
While I photographed Common Loons at my local park this month I also took some female Great-tailed Grackle images and today I am sharing two of them.
Over the past four months I wanted closer, better photos of the leucistic American Coot that I found on January 2nd. My patience and persistence paid off.
Taking Great-tailed Grackle photos after our recent spring snowstorm was fun. I had never seen photos of this species in the snow before I took these.
While I was walking around my local pond three days ago I enjoyed having a male Great-tailed Grackle in my viewfinder for a bit. He was strolling along nearby.
On two of my most recent walks I have seen Great-tailed Grackles. Seeing them reminded me that Great-tailed Grackle breeding season is coming soon.
On a recent walk around my local pond, I heard the call of a male Great-tailed Grackle. When I found it, I giggled out loud because of where it was perched.
Yesterday morning I had fun taking spring male Great-tailed Grackle portraits because these males were displaying and not paying attention to me or my camera.
When I photographed this Great-tailed Grackle male in a pine yesterday I was torn between focusing on taking photos of him and laughing out loud.
I had a fun time at my local pond yesterday because it is Great-tailed Grackle breeding season and photographing these grackles kept me on my toes.
I did get out to find and photograph birds on Christmas Day at Farmington Bay WMA and then later in the morning I found more closer to home.
I spent a couple of hours yesterday photographing winter birds at Farmington Bay WMA and closer to home in the morning and afternoon.
I don't often get to have Great-tailed Grackles in my viewfinder let alone have them close enough to take portraits of them so when the opportunity presents itself, I jump at the chance.
I'm glad I had a few seconds to photograph this Great-tailed Grackle up close in the warm afternoon light before it was flushed and flew away.
This female Great-tailed Grackle was the first bird I photographed yesterday and she was so close to me that I opted to take portraits of her in the nice afternoon light at my local pond.
Even though the light yesterday morning wasn't optimal for bird photography I took my Mom to the Farmington Bay WMA area to show her around there, we only made it as far as Glover Pond though.
Since the freezing temperatures arrived in my neighborhood I have been listening to a five o'clock Great-tailed Grackle cacophony nightly.
Recently the USDA accepted responsibility for a smaller die off in South Dakota which brought to light a little known program called "Bye bye Blackbird" which uses DRC-1339, a poison that is also called an avicide.