adrian Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 Not observed by me: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/124207891 Reported as a Common Grackle but I think it looks like a Boat-tailed Grackle, with that solid blue-black coloration and apparently thin bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akiley Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 Yes, that's a Boat-tail. Flag it if you want to, if not I can do it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcarscadden Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 those eyes...would not expect them to be as piercing yellow on a boat tail and i do have some pics of dark common Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrian Posted December 19, 2018 Author Share Posted December 19, 2018 (edited) I tried to edit my original post, but couldn't for some reason, to include the following info: This bird was photographed in a small urban park on the west side of Manhattan, New York City, near the Hudson River. Common Grackle is common in Manhattan, but Boat-tailed Grackle is very rare (less than 10 records on eBird ever for Manhattan). However, there is an established pattern of infrequent vagrancy of this species north along the Hudson River in Manhattan (I personally observed three together in this context) north to Westchester. Boat-tailed Grackle does occur as a regular breeder along the coastal marshes of New York City (where it is not uncommon), but this is some miles from Manhattan. Looking at this bird again, I just can't imagine a Common Grackle showing such a solid blue iridescence, and I am inclined to believe that it is a Boat-tailed Grackle despite the rarity. I'd appreciate it if you reported it as misidentified if you agree that it is a Boat-tailed. I did so weeks ago, but it obviously hasn't been changed. I know the Manhattan eBird reviewer(s) probably has/have a lot of things to sift through, so maybe they didn't get to it yet, or maybe they believe it is a Common Grackle, or perhaps they just skimmed it over and dismissed the idea based on the likelihood (not likely I think). I'd still love to hear others' thoughts on this bird. 2 hours ago, jcarscadden said: those eyes...would not expect them to be as piercing yellow on a boat tail and i do have some pics of dark common jcarscadden, piercing yellow eyes are certainly typical of Atlantic coast Boat-tailed Grackles (see the last and second-to-last photos here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Boat-tailed_Grackle/media-browser/67363911 ). If you have photos of Common Grackles that you think look very similar to this bird, I'd love to see them! Edited December 19, 2018 by adrian Additional info 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcarscadden Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 I stand corrected ..one of the pictures was of a brewers blackbird..the others are buried...so until i find them..if i find them - boat tail it is. I did look a the link you provided and agreee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akiley Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 12 hours ago, adrian said: I tried to edit my original post, but couldn't for some reason, to include the following info: This bird was photographed in a small urban park on the west side of Manhattan, New York City, near the Hudson River. Common Grackle is common in Manhattan, but Boat-tailed Grackle is very rare (less than 10 records on eBird ever for Manhattan). However, there is an established pattern of infrequent vagrancy of this species north along the Hudson River in Manhattan (I personally observed three together in this context) north to Westchester. Boat-tailed Grackle does occur as a regular breeder along the coastal marshes of New York City (where it is not uncommon), but this is some miles from Manhattan. Looking at this bird again, I just can't imagine a Common Grackle showing such a solid blue iridescence, and I am inclined to believe that it is a Boat-tailed Grackle despite the rarity. I'd appreciate it if you reported it as misidentified if you agree that it is a Boat-tailed. I did so weeks ago, but it obviously hasn't been changed. I know the Manhattan eBird reviewer(s) probably has/have a lot of things to sift through, so maybe they didn't get to it yet, or maybe they believe it is a Common Grackle, or perhaps they just skimmed it over and dismissed the idea based on the likelihood (not likely I think). I'd still love to hear others' thoughts on this bird. jcarscadden, piercing yellow eyes are certainly typical of Atlantic coast Boat-tailed Grackles (see the last and second-to-last photos here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Boat-tailed_Grackle/media-browser/67363911 ). If you have photos of Common Grackles that you think look very similar to this bird, I'd love to see them! It's certainly a male torreyi (Atlantic subspecies) Boat-tailed. I flagged it. Sometimes what happens with flagged reports is that a reviewer will send an email out to the observer about the mistake they made, but they might not always reply back (or it could take awhile) therefore leaving it on the checklist as it is here. However, now that it's definitely flagged, the record is out of the database. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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