floraphile Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 21 Mar 2020. Baldwin co., AL. <1 mile from Mobile Bay Hi, All. ? Today, I noted a large flock of 60-70 grackles (and possibly a few Red-Winged Blackbirds--ID'd by ear only) fly and roost for several minutes in the uppermost branches of surrounding trees. When they flew overhead, their tails were long & large, and unfurled into a shallow V at the end. I ID'd them as Boat-Tailed, but ebird popped up with an error message calling them "Infrequent". On AllAboutBirds and ebird, I listened to the calls of each of the 2 species and they did sound more like Common Grackle (but please see Question #1 below). So my questions: 1--Are the calls of the 2 species as different (as they sounded to me) on ebird/llAboutBirds? 2--Do Boat-Taileds also aggregate in huge flocks (and with other "black-birds") like Common? 3) Do the 2 species socialize/roost/flock together? 4) Regardless of the species of the birds I saw, why would ebird state Boat-Taileds as "Infrequent" here? We are coastal and we have them here year-round. 5) Would not the hugely long tail showing an obvious V shape in flight suggest Boat-Tailed? Thanks, everybody. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jefferson Shank Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 I the birds sounded like Common Grackles, that is probably what they were. Yes, the calls of the 2 species are noticeable different. Yes, they do congregate in flocks, but probably not as big of flocks as Common Grackles I can imagine they do, like many other blackbirds and grackles eBird may have labeled it that because of how big the flock you saw was. Common Grackles have a V-shaped tail too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Leukering Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 Male Common Grackles show a distinct V shape to the tail; Great-taileds do not. Common Great-tailed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floraphile Posted March 25, 2020 Author Share Posted March 25, 2020 On 3/22/2020 at 10:20 PM, Tony Leukering said: Male Common Grackles show a distinct V shape to the tail; Great-taileds do not. Common Great-tailed Hi, Tony. My question is about Common vs. Boat-Tailed (not Great-Tailed). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Leukering Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 4 hours ago, floraphile said: Hi, Tony. My question is about Common vs. Boat-Tailed (not Great-Tailed). The answer is the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floraphile Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 (edited) AllAboutBirds site state the Boat-Taileds hold their tails in a V. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Boat-tailed_Grackle/id Edited March 26, 2020 by floraphile additional information added Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floraphile Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 @Tony Leukering Tony--I was able to get a recording this morning of the grackles. Can you ID which species from the songs/calls? Thank you. ? 20200321_164122.wav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jefferson Shank Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 @Tony Leukering Tony--I was able to get a recording this morning of the grackles. Can you ID which species from the songs/calls? Thank you. ? 20200321_164122.wav 3.22 MB · These are Common Grackles. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Leukering Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 3 hours ago, Jefferson Shank said: These are Common Grackles. Agreed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpg.50656c4b18b98c9bab5819e3f198dd32.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now