Great-tailed Grackles Invade CSU Stanislaus

I've mentioned before that one of my favorite birding spots close to home (extremely close to home) is the campus of California State University, Stanislaus (also my alma mater).  Since I don't have a backyard at this point in time, exploring the quiet side paths and wild corners of the college campus is as close to watching wildlife from home as I can get (except for the non-native house sparrow that just perched on my porch and the newly-hatched batch of highly invasive European starlings I hear crying from their nearby nest on the electrical box). 

 

The ponds and adjacent areas at CSUS are surprisingly full of life, from the goldfish, bullfrogs and Red-eared Slider turtles of questionable origin in the water itself, to the myriad bird species making their homes in nearby reeds, shrubs, trees and bridges.  (A few of yesterday's Cliff Swallow photos came from one of the bridges on campus.)  A number of Canada Geese have taken up permanent residence on campus, along with a motley crew of ducks and coots.  But I see more "interesting" birds almost daily, like Black-crowned Night Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets and Double-crested Cormorants, along with the occasional Green Heron and Belted Kingfisher.  Ruddy Ducks and Common Mergansers drop by during the winter, and Cedar Waxwings arrive every fall.  Last year, a Great Horned Owl pair even raised a family on campus! 

 

But while the ducks might not raise much interest and the owls might (hopefully) go unnoticed entirely, there is one bird on campus you will certainly not miss: The Great-tailed Grackle.

 

 

You will almost certainly hear the grackle before you see it.  A litany of bizarre and painfully loud vocalizations emanating from the reeds and trees will draw your attention, the sounds ranging from whistles and clucks to repetitive mechanical noises reminiscent of a rusty gate or old machinery.  Your curiosity piqued, you will then see the bird and wonder how it is that you've never noticed a grackle before!

 

The Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) is a fairly large bird with an impressive wedge-shaped tail, glossy black plumage that shines an iridescent purple-blue in the sun, and an intelligent yellow-eyed gaze.  Their looks alone would be enough to capture the attention of passersby... even without their wild range of vocalizations!

 

 

Before we go any further, stop and listen to just a small selection of their vocalizations here.

 

The female Great-tailed Grackle is brown instead of iridescent black.  But check out those eyes!

Great-tailed Grackles are boisterous members of the Blackbird (and Oriole) family (Icteridae).  Like other blackbirds, they nest colonially, sometimes in colonies of hundreds of birds. 

This species was formerly considered a bird of the Southwestern United States, but it has been steadily expanding its range in recent decades.  Now, the Great-tailed Grackle appears to breed in some places as far north as Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming.  Northern populations are migratory, wintering south to Central America, but recently more and more populations have begun to live as permanent residents in regions they previously only visited in the summer.  A few grackles stick around CSUS all year, but their numbers definitely increase during the breeding season.

Red-winged Blackbirds used to inhabit the reeds around Willow Lake (near the science buildings), but it's been three years since I last saw one of these smaller blackbirds.  It's my guess that the big, brash grackles pushed them out of the one small patch of suitable habitat on campus.

The Great-tailed Grackle owes its success in part to its bold presence, but also in part to its adaptability and cosmopolitan tastes.  Grackles feed on whatever is available, including plant matter (seeds, berries, nuts, grains, fruit), invertebrates (insects, spiders, worms, snails, crayfish), vertebrates (frogs, fish, lizards, mice, even eggs and nestlings of other birds) and of course, human-generated garbage.

They are at home in a number of lowland habitats, from farms, towns and parks to marshes; generally, they follow human settlement and the spread of irrigated agriculture.  I've never seen one of these birds in a truly wild place.  They favor suburban parks, golf courses and lawns, dumps, irrigated pasture, farmyards and campgrounds.  (There were quite a few hanging out around the Mecca Beach campground on the Salton Sea when we were there last month!)  It's a brilliant strategy: follow the humans, for where there are humans, there is water, food and garbage!  (I've always thought they look crafty!  Kind of like the raptors from Jurassic Park...)

In addition to Great-tailed Grackles, two other grackle species are found in the United States: the Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) of the East and Midwestern States, and the Boat-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major) of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.  Keep your eyes - and especially your ears - open for these beautiful birds!  They're likely to turn up in surprising places!