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Common Grackle – My 450th county bird

On November 5th, I had arranged to meet up with Brad Hacker to go birding. We had decided to drive out on the Jalama Road to look for sparrow flocks as there are often large flocks of White-crowned Sparrows along the roadside. Traffic on the road is fairly light and it is easy to stop and check them out for something better. We would then head over to the Santa Ynez River mouth to look for waterbirds.

On the drive towards the turn to Jalama Road, Brad complained about the total lack of sparrows coming to feeders in his year so far this fall. Unfortunately, this proved to be prescient for our drive as it soon became apparent there were fewer and smaller sparrow flocks along the road compared to years past. At one spot, we were able to coax out a “Sooty” Fox Sparrow and three Golden-crowned Sparrows, both species that tend to be commoner up in montane chaparral in our area, especially the Fox Sparrow. We later found about 10 more Golden-crowneds in a large but somewhat distant White-crowned flock. However, sparrow diversity and quality was distinctly lacking and, rather deflated, we headed back up the road and out to the Santa Ynez River mouth, making a quick burrito stop en route.

As we approached the turn off into Ocean Park, the best place to access the river mouth, I suggested we stop at a cattle feedlot opposite. This is a good spot for blackbird flocks and in winter often has Tricolored and Yellow-headed Blackbirds in addition to the commoner species. It was quickly apparent that there were a decent number of “Trikes” and we got out the scopes to examine the flocks, which were 150-200m away, more thoroughly. We were unable to find any Yellow-headed Blackbirds and I turned my attention to looking for a Rusty Blackbird, possibly the most frequent Pacific Coast vagrant I have never found myself.

After a few minutes, I came across a bird feeding but facing away from me that appeared to have a shiny, brown-tinged body contrasting with a blueish head – a combination unique to a Common Grackle, a species quite a bit rarer than a Rusty Blackbird, at least in California. Given the distance and somewhat backlit lighting, I kept the bird in the “potential” bucket for a few minutes until it perched up on some metal bars and gave a good side-on look. I was now able to see the large, deep-based bill and confirm the two-tone blueish head/bronzy-brown body appearance, as well as appreciate the larger size better. Subsequent flight views also showed the longer tail with a graduated tip.

Although Brad is prolific photographer with very good camera gear, he had left his camera at home since he was already lugging a scope along to use at the river mouth. Fortunately, Wes lived only a 35-minute drive away and the Common Grackle was a county bird for him as well. I got on the phone and he was immediately on his way. I then put the news out on a couple of on-line RBAs we have for the county.

There was something of tense wait when Wes arrived as some folks drove in to feed the cows, which resulted in them and the associated blackbird flock moving to an even more difficult to observe area. However, I eventually picked the bird out sat on a high transmission pole and Wes was able to see it. It then flew back to the original grass lot and after a few minutes we found it drinking at the water trough where we could see it pretty well and get some passable photos.


Common Grackle

Brad and I then headed off to check the river mouth where there were plenty of birds but nothing especially interesting, with a Brant and 16 Bonaparte’s Gull being the best. Wes hung on to try to get more photos and help the various birders arriving to “chase” (twitch in UK birding parlance) the grackle. After the excitement of finding the grackle, I felt too unmotivated to count some of the waterbirds, especially as rising water levels had dispersed the flocks into more difficult to view areas. We headed back to Goleta very satisfied with how things had turned out.

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