I've been wanting to write a blog post showing the crows that I see all the time, but when it came down to photographing them, they never seemed to be flying by. I did find myself surrounded by a lot of other black birds this spring. I think they are grackles. While they're not crows, grackles can be plenty spooky. Especially when you close in on them with your camera lens! It's funny how when you start seeing the details of something close up it's like a whole new world.
I learned a lot about these birds and their lifestyle from photographing them. I watched them fly around, hunt for food, try to pick up other birds, look impressive, look scary (the same as looking impressive), and just hang out in the trees.
They fluff themselves out as much as possible to either look cool to attract a mate or look big and tough to ward off an enemy.
They have never been aggressive toward me, but I wouldn't want to be a worm in their vicinity! They take on a cold, calculating look while hunting for food.
On the hunt...
Success!
This one looks like he's eating a hot dog, but that's probably part of a worm.
I took a few photos of the birds hunting for worms together. They took advantage of the wet dirt. As you can maybe tell, it was raining when I took these.
That one was really digging in!
Some of the things I noticed from photographing the birds is the subtlety of their coloring. From a distance I thought they were entirely black. In the sun you can see that they have a bright blue tint to the feathers around their heads and an almost brown or maroon color on their tail feathers. I could also see their bright yellow eyes.
I also got a good view of those talons!
The birds are very flexible and I saw them contort themselves every which way in the trees.
Another interesting thing I noticed was how their eyes sometimes went cloudy. I wonder if the birds have a second eyelid? Does anyone know about that? You can see how the eye is kind of whitish and glossy. A second later it was back to its usual yellow with a pupil.
If you'd like to learn a little more about grackles and their habits, you might find this Audubon page interesting:
P.S. ~ I took a close-up photo of a grackle's feather so you can see how beautifully it changes color in the sun.
I sure wouldn't have realized this from a distance! Isn't that a pretty fade from purple to pink to gold?
we had a grackle at my farm this spring that had learned to imitate a ring tone from a cell phone. He fooled me on more than one occasion as I looked around - whose phone is ringing?
ReplyDeleteLady M ~ No way! I didn't know grackles could do that! You're reminding me of an Australian bird I learned about recently. I'd found an Australian coin in a parking lot and a bird (The Lyrebird) was pictured on the back of it. So I decided to look it up and it turns out that bird can mimic all kinds of noises! They recite as many different noises as they can to attract a mate. I guess the more imitations they can do, the more impressive they are. Check this out!
ReplyDeleteAmazing! Bird sounds from the Lyrebird
So maybe your grackle was impressing a potential mate with its cell phone noises. :)
My grackle was impressive but not as much as the lyrebird!
DeleteLady M ~ I'm guessing few birds are! Unless they're all keeping some secrets from us. :)
DeleteYour pictures are great, Justine! I especially love that first one - those yellow eyes ... EVIL! LOL
ReplyDeleteInsomniac's Attic ~ Thank you! Haha! Yeah, I had to start off with that one. :) It's my favorite shot of these birds. I got that photo when I was watching them hunt for worms. He just happened to glance up with that intense worm hunting look on his face. I'd like to think that look wasn't directed at me!
DeleteThat first picture is really cool! Birds are hard to take pictures of, by the time I get my iPad out they have flown away.
ReplyDeleteOnce these birds get to know you, do they hop around close to you, or do they stay distant?
Matt ~ Thanks! Yeah, these birds moved pretty quickly. To get a lot of these pics I had to sit still and wait for them to land near me. I'd say grackles are pretty much live and let live. They didn't interact much with me, although I think they were aware of me. They didn't act social with me or try to scare me off. They just went about their business while being photographed. Some birds seem much more interactive, like robins. I sometimes feel like robins are posing or creating a scene when I photograph them.
DeleteGreat photos of the grackles. I like the way the first one is looking at you as if to say, "don't take my picture!"....lol.
ReplyDeleteJulie ~ Thank you! Haha! Yeah, he was quite the character. It does look like he's giving me the stink eye. It's funny for someone who is human size, but I'd hate to be any smaller than that bird! Can you imagine looking up to see that face? Scary!
DeleteGood article.
ReplyDeleteGatekeeper ~ Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
Deletesuch shiny feathers! and love the yellow eyes :-D
ReplyDeleteJust Keep Brains ~ Yeah! They're really pretty birds, which I wouldn't have realized without paying this much attention to them. I didn't even realize their eyes were yellow before taking these photos! There's a lot of personality in those eyes, isn't there?
ReplyDelete