Great Tailed Grackle

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Great Tailed Grackle
Photo Information
Copyright: Jane Magen (jaycee) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1675 W: 8 N: 4022] (13255)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-05-08
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon PowerShot S5 IS, 1.5 Teleconverter
Exposure: f/4, 1/800 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Bayram's Favorites-1 [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2008-05-12 8:26
Viewed: 449
Favorites: 1 [view]
Points: 62
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Great Tailed Grackle

The Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) is a large icterid blackbird , also referred to simply as "blackbird", and occasionally "crow" or "jackdaw", though it is not a member of the Corvidae. Similarly, it is often called "cuervo" in areas of Mexico where there are no true crows.

Its range stretches from Kansas in the northeast to southern California in the northwest down to northwest Peru and northwest Venezuela in the south; the grackle's range has been expanding north and west in recent years. It is common in Texas and Arizona in the southern regions. It is commonly found in agricultural regions and suburban environments, feeding on fruits, seeds, and invertebrates.

There is a considerable amount of sexual dimorphism in this species. Males reach up to 43 cm (18 inches), including a tail that is almost as long as the body, weigh 230 g, and are jet-black with a violet-blue iridescent sheen to the feathers. Females are significantly smaller at 33 cm (13 inches), weigh 125 g, and are mainly brownish-black, with a pale brown throat and belly.

This bird has a large variety of raucous, cacophonous calls, and is widely considered to be a noisy pest species, though its range expansion has not been aided by human introduction (compared to the European Starling).

The Great-tailed Grackle and Boat-tailed Grackle were once considered the same species.

Some species of Grackle, usually the Great-tailed, are confused with an American Crow when people unfamiliar with bird identification are asked to identify a dead blackbird. This usually occurs when birds need to be identified as candidates for West Nile virus.

Wikipedia
smitha, boreocypriensis, eqshannon, uleko, fartash, Argus, Gert-Paassen, pekkavalo1, nglen, Jamesp, maurydv, CeltickRanger, goldyrs, Adanac, zulfu, gracious, eng55, haraprasan, marhowie, Alex99, Miss_Piggy has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To goldyrs: Over Yonderjaycee 1 05-12 18:55
To boreocypriensis: Thank Youjaycee 1 05-12 10:28
To PeterZ: Walljaycee 1 05-12 10:24
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Critiques [Translate]

Hello Jane,
It's a grave looking Grackle you have here.:)
It does look similar to crows. Excellent POV,sharpness and details. Nice neutral background.I liked the diagonal composition too.
TFS,
Regards,
Smitha.

Hello Jane
What a great capture...Your plane of focus has encompassed this wonderful Grackle (I love the names Grackle and Thrasher for birds!!) perfectly with superb sharp details from the tip of his tail to the tip of his beak and all points inbetween. The lovely Bg really highlights him so well..Fantastic camera work.
Pau;

Owwww... what a lovely posture and sullen-faced bird my friend. I loved this Great Tailed Grackle:p He resembles me:P. Great and sweet shot my beloved friend. TFS.
Cheers,

Bayram

I now see how the Grackle differs from the Brewers Blackbird...I knew it was in the tail but I had not seen any images as this which show the dominant and long tail of the Grackle...VERY well seen and a good lesson for me as well..
Bob

  • Great 
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2297 W: 163 N: 6694] (21146)
  • [2008-05-12 9:53]

Hello Jane,
What an interesting and very slim-lookimg bird in beautiful plumage! You've captured it in a very nice pose and details are very sharp. The beautiful light has brought out the colours very nicely. An excellent composition too.
TFS and cheers, Ulla

  • Great 
  • cako Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 327 W: 0 N: 280] (1619)
  • [2008-05-12 9:57]

Hi Jane
this is a nice bird
very good sharp
well done.

Hello Jane
Very nice shot of this Great Tailed Grackle,
Perfect focusing,composition and BG.Welldone my friend.

Regards
Fartash

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2416 W: 132 N: 6653] (20877)
  • [2008-05-12 10:10]

Hello Jane,
Superb capture of a female Great-tailed Grackle.
The sharpness, pose, POV, OOF neutral BG and composition are all great to make this an excellent portrait.
TFS this beauty,
Ivan

  • Great 
  • Mana Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1687 W: 20 N: 4738] (15476)
  • [2008-05-12 10:56]

Hi Jane,
Splendid shot of this Great tailed Grackle on that concrete wall and in a fine pose. Very impressive sharpness and details on its plumage and the bright sunlight provides great illumination. Excellent DOF, POV and composition. Kudos.
TFS.
Sumon

Hello Jane,

Great capture and nicely composed.
Beautiful colours in the wings.
Suburp sharp details and very good BG.

Gert

An interesting species perfectly reproduced here for an easy identification Jane, good lateral POV and limited DOF resulted in a fine composition my friend, TFS indeed!
Mehmet

Hi Jane,

Excellent capture of Great-tailed Gragle with great composition, nice pose, sharp details, very good lighting and natural bright colours.

TFS

Pekka

  • Great 
  • nglen Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1864 W: 2 N: 4738] (18250)
  • [2008-05-12 14:08]

Hi jane. A good close up of the sad looking bird. It must be the look on its face. . You have good detail and colours. well done TFS.
Nick..

  • Great 
  • Jamesp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1223 W: 0 N: 4449] (13290)
  • [2008-05-12 14:22]

Hi Jane

Wow - an unusual looking bird. Great pose and detail shoeing this species to advantage.

James

Splendido ritratto, eccellenti POV e DOF, bellissime la composizione quadrata con una diagonale perfetta e la posa sul muretto, ottima nitidezza, magnifici i colori e BG. Grazie e complimenti. Ciao Maurizio

A lovely shot, Jane..I've never seen this one, too!(One sometimes feels all th beautiful birds are over, yonder:)
Very sharp shot!
Cheers!
Goldy

  • Great 
  • Adanac Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1029 W: 1 N: 3939] (13258)
  • [2008-05-12 19:15]

Hello Jane,
Great capture of this species, wonderful color and extremely sharp details. Great work my friend.
Rick

Hello Jane,
Now and then I see the same wall with different birds on it. It that correct?
Beautiful natural colours and great sharpness, details and POV. Good BG and composition.
Regards,
Peter

  • Great 
  • zulfu Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 441 W: 0 N: 68] (472)
  • [2008-05-13 0:50]

Hi Jane, splendid capture of this beauty. TFS. Regards,
Mehmet

Hello Jane,
Lovely captured on this beautiful Great Tailed Grackle!
fine pose of it to show it's long tail!
good sharpness, colour and fine details
well done always
Tony

  • Great 
  • eng55 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 339 W: 3 N: 371] (1095)
  • [2008-05-13 1:44]

Hi Jane,
Beautiful capture.I liked POV,pose of bird,expression on face and composition a lot.Thanks for posting.

Hi Jane,
I don't think this one is a friendly bird. Its eyes looks terrifying. Excellent capture of this grackle. Superb details and a lovely composition. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Hi Jane
Great capture of this elegant looking bird
Nice natural color and fine detail
tfs jon

Hi Jane,
Nice pose and a good POV..
Good color and your managed the hard light well.
Lacks a bit of detail with the NR/NI, but looks great regardless.
Well done & TFS,
Howard

Hi Jane, elegant bird with fine details and splendid sharpness, I like a lot, ciao Silvio

hello Jane

excellent close shot of this Great Tailed Grackle,
with fine POV, lovely luminosity of the image,
excellent sharpness and details, i love his Grackle
pose and loo, his pose and glance looks like
the Common Grackle and his eyes colour too, TFS

Asbed

  • Great 
  • joey Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1555 W: 233 N: 5091] (17959)
  • [2008-05-13 7:56]

Hello Jane,
a lovely image of this Grackle!
The diagonal composition is excellent!
Very sharp too.
NIce lighting and natural colours.
Superb DOF.
Well done!!

Joe

  • Great 
  • Alex99 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2935 W: 142 N: 4217] (13775)
  • [2008-05-14 4:07]

Hi Jane.
I have never seen this species before. Many thanks for its representation. Excellent close-up and impressive composition. You managed to show all its feature very well. My kind regards and TFS.
Alexei.

  • Great 
  • arfer Gold Star Critiquer [C: 2726 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2008-05-17 22:41]

Hello Jane

A very good example of the long tail on this grackle.
The POV is wonderful.
Excellent plumage and eye detail.
The colours are natural and well saturated.
TFS


Rob

  • Great 
  • EOSF1 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1266 W: 103 N: 4311] (19463)
  • [2008-05-18 7:14]

Hello Jane that's an unknown bird to me! Great subject, good pos and composition and good technical qualities, well done agin, thanks!

Mario

Hallo Jane
Great photography showing this bird's perfectly shaped and formed plumage in all its glory. A big splendor and poser indeed. The tailpiece is really impressive and a real eye-catcher. An image well presented and worth a big smiley. A delight to look at. Focus, clarity and sharpness is great. Thanks for sharing.
Kind regards
Anna

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