From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Wed Oct 13 23:31:53 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i9E6SSjh017890 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 13 Oct 2004 23:28:28 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail.coastside.net (iris.coastside.net [207.213.212.14]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i9E6RIVC017846 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 13 Oct 2004 23:27:19 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 10681 invoked by uid 88); 13 Oct 2004 23:27:17 -0700 Received: from unknown (HELO computer.coastside.net) (209.76.127.108) by mail.coastside.net with SMTP; 13 Oct 2004 23:27:17 -0700 Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> X-Sender: [[email protected]] (Unverified) X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.2.1 Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 23:26:50 -0700 To: Eric Goodill <[[email protected]]>, SBB <[[email protected]]> From: Alvaro Jaramillo <[[email protected]]> Subject: Re: [SBB] Grackle at Palo Alto Baylands? In-Reply-To: <[[email protected]]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5b1 Cc: X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5b1 Precedence: list List-Id: South Bay Birding List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Errors-To: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] At 10:50 PM 10/13/2004 -0700, Eric Goodill wrote: >Hello birders, > >I was out at the Palo Alto Baylands Park on Wed, Oct 13 at about 10:30 AM, >and I spotted what I think is a pair of male and female Great-tailed >Grackles atop the Lucy Evans Nature Center. I don't have much experience >with grackles, so the ID is tentative, but I did manage to snap a few >pictures, that while not wonderful, will probably help aid in identification. Photos are great. These are definitely Great-tailed Grackles. >The Common Grackle's range, according to Sibley, would make it a pretty >unusual bird. Also I didn't see any of the two-tone head vs. body that >Sibley shows. The juvinile is mostly all brown. The male was clearly adult >with its black, glossy feathers, and the female has a lot more patterning >on it compared to the plain juvenile. The structure, plumage, tail length etc. all exclude Common Grackle as a possibility. >Boat-tailed Grackle looks to be extremely unlikely based on range, the the >female doesn't have any of the warmth of color Sibley shows. > >Great-tailed Grackle seems the most likely based on range. Also the head >seems a bit flatter than Boat-tailed which Sibley points out. The female >has pale tones on her breast without any of the warmer colors Sibley shows >for the Boat-tailed. It's a bit difficult for me to tell, but I also think >the bill is heavier like that of a Great-tailed as opposed to a Boat-tailed. Boat-tailed is extremely unlikely as you mention. One aspect that the books don't tend to show is that Great tailed Grackles in the West are variable depending on the original population (subspecies) that they belong to. Your birds, with that pale female, and rather small-billed male, suggest the westernmost population (nelsoni). congratulations on a nice record. Al Alvaro Jaramillo NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS AS OF MAY 2004 [[email protected]] Half Moon Bay, California Field Guides - Birding Tours Worldwide http://www.fieldguides.com/home.htm _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. south-bay-birds mailing list ([[email protected]]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/options/south-bay-birds/south-bay-birds-archive%40plaidworks.com This email sent to [[email protected]]