Bird Directory

Common Grackle Click on picture to hear bird sounds.	Bird Name: Common Grackle
	Field Marks: The Common Grackle's bill is heavy, long and pointed. It has yellow eyes and a long wedge-shaped tail. The male's head is blue-green but its wings have a purple sheen. The female is drab with dark gray coloring. The Common Grackle is larger than a robin.
	Feeder Food: Mixed seeds, nuts
	Natural Food: Nearly anything, including garbage and worms
	Behavior: The Common Grackle will enjoy the nuts that are in your feeders. It cracks the nuts with a sharp plate on the roof of its mouth. It is a noisy and aggressive bird that is often seen in small to large flocks except during breeding season. Watch it walk. It holds its head high and seems to strut. Song: gurgle-eek (short and high)

Pictures and sounds were reproduced by permission.

Sources:

Alden, Peter and Brian Cassie, National Audubon Society Field Guide To New England, New York: Alfred A.Knopf, 1998.

Dawe, Neil and Karen, The Bird Book, New York: Workman Publishing, 1988.

Elliott, Lang, Know Your Bird Sounds (cassette), Minocqua, WI: NorthWord Press, Inc., 1994.

Forbush, Edward Howe, Birds of Massachusetts, Norwood, Massachusetts: Norwood Press, 1929.

Reed, Chester R., Bird Guide: Land Birds East of the Rockies, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1951.

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