Common Grackle male?

[smittyone@cox.net]

I'm certain that this bird, seen in Western Iowa on Monday, is a Common Grackle.  I'm also 95% sure it's a male.  My question is whether it's an immature male molting into it's adult plumage?  Or is it an adult male during it's seasonal/annual molt?  Although I do see what I believe to be a fleshy gape, which would indicate an immature bird.  The fleshy gape is not yellow, like I'm used to seeing in most immature birds.

[Avery]

I believe it is a molting male. 

[Tony Leukering]

Immature male molting out of juvenile plumage; an adult male would not have gray-brown head plumage to replace.

[Pigegon]

Adult female common grackles do not have a pale yellow iris, but males and juveniles do. That one is probably a young male, seeing how it's feathers are beginning to look like the adult's feathers.

[The Bird Nuts]

8 hours ago, Pigegon said:

Adult female common grackles do not have a pale yellow iris, but males and juveniles do.

Females DO have pale yellow irises.  It's the juveniles that have darker eyes.

Edited August 17, 2020 by The Bird Nuts

[LibraryCool]

Your Grackle has a lot of character! We had 10 of these chatterboxes in our yard today happily eating bird seed from under the feeder. I love it when they visit in the spring and in the fall. Lots of strange noises!