Strange Birds

[sartorias]

Yesterday, rachelmanija and I drove out to Arizona for a session of Camp Lipizzan, which we have become completely addicted to. We had a pleasant, uneventful drive along the 8, which traverses the nervous landscape over the San Andreas Fault. (yes, the fault bisects the state, pretty much, but it seems . . . larger here, what with the vast stretches of broken

Comments

[lnhammer]

Those look like grackles to me. Boat-tailed grackles are local variety in Tucson. Their vocalization are remarkably varied.

---L.

[maribou]

I was also going to suggest grackles. cf. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqsPfGEIib4&feature=related (grackles in a tree in Austin, sounding completely BANANAS)

[sartorias]

That's it--mystery solved! Thank you!

[rosefiend]

We have more of the regular grackles (without the boat tail) but when you run into a boat-tailed grackle, you can definitely tell the difference. One time I started repeating back a boat-tailed's call in a parking lot, and oh man, after a few rounds that bird got mad and started calling me some very bad names. It was bird language, but you could tell!

[sartorias]

Oooh! I will tell the others.

[rachelmanija]

You got it! (Are you coming over?)

[lnhammer]

Not today -- I'm stuck in my last day of week-long training at work. :-(

---L.

[dancinghorse]

I had the same thought. Grackles. There were a couple around here today.

We also have smaller black birds that are called bronzed cowbirds. A family of them lives here every winter.