Friday, July 4, 2008

Great-tailed Grackle Colony

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This was a view from a cemetery in Texas and I couldn’t help but think of Jenni in Kansas when I saw it.


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We stopped at a cemetery near the highway in Oklahoma, somewhere after I poked fun at the naming of the Washita River (I kid you not). I kept singing WY! Sheet a River, I’m a dork that way. But back to the point, this cemetery was inundated (they nest in colonies) with Great-tailed Grackles.


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Huge, happy, hungry (apparently) Grackles. And these photos are of various ones and pairs, not the same one over and over.


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So many of the mama Grackles had bugs in their mouths, I am assuming for babies and the daddies were telling us to get the heck away from their trees, where I assume the nests were.


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10 comments:

  1. My favourite is the second-last shot. The first one could be a farm anywhere in Australia - great picture.

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  2. They are amazing.
    I absolutely adore them.
    The second last one is my favorite though :D
    And again, I feel like grabbing my camera and start wandering the neighborhood.
    But I have work to do (visit my blog buddies - nice excuse, no?)
    ;)

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  3. Never have been able to warm up to grackles...nice shots though, especially the one with the tail feathers displayed.

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  4. I've always liked their tails, they're not flat like most birds.

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  5. I don't think we have those here. They look quite large. Are they related to ravens?

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  6. They are poised fellows! You get the best stuff, Lisa.

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  7. these shots are Amazing! so crisp, such terrific detail. what lens did you use??

    Very nicely done!

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  8. Thanks! I think of you every time I try to take a bird photo. I think, "DANG! Lisa would've gotten that!" We have some very elusive indigo buntings out here. They are such quick little birds. Unlike the distant and blurry cardinal and robin shots I sometimes get, the indigo bunting shots usually are a photo of where the bird was 5 seconds ago. And why is it that I never, ever see a scissor tailed flycatcher unless I'm driving 50 miles an hour down a country road? It's all good. I can just keep coming back here for my bird fix and dreaming that somehow someday I'll get better:o) Beautiful shots as always, Lisa!

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  9. Ooooooh, man! I still have chills after seeing the snake photos. *shiver*

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  10. Those are some HUGE birds!!!

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