A lil blackbird (acrylic + thickener on canvas)

Look at the new babies! They all got similar tattoos of Blackbirds in their own style to commemorate working on the song with Beyonce. They look like Destiny's Child if they were a country group in an alternate universe!

A Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula) in Lake Meyer Park, Iowa, USA

by Larry Reis

BOTD: Boat-tailed Grackle

Photo: Judy Gallagher

"Until the 1970s, this big blackbird was considered to be the same species as the Great-tailed Grackle, but the two forms overlap on the coasts of Texas and Louisiana without interbreeding. The Boat-tail is a more aquatic creature, nesting in marshes, scavenging on beaches. Except in Florida, it is seldom found far away from tidewater. Boat-tailed Grackles nest in noisy colonies, the males displaying conspicuously with much wing-fluttering and harsh repeated calls."

- Audubon Field Guide

The Singer

Boat-Tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major)

Family: American Blackbird Family (Icteridae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Native to the southeastern USA, the Boat-Tailed Grackle shares much of its range with the closely related Common Grackle, but can be distinguished from its relative thanks to its larger size (Growing to be around 40cm/15.7 inches long compared to the around 32cm/12.6 inch long Common Grackle) and its considerably longer, broader tail, which is present in both sexes but more prominent in males. Found largely in coastal habitats (although they may also be found near large inland bodies of water or in human settlements where they feed on abandoned food scraps), members of this species roost in large, loosely organised flocks that may contain hundreds of individuals, and which scatter during the day to feed on seeds, fruits, insects, eggs and small vertebrates such as frogs, fishes and occasionally smaller birds before gathering back together at dusk. Boat-Tailed Grackles mate in the early spring (with a male establishing a strictly-guarded territory and producing a high-pitched mating call to invite a large number of females into it) and nest during the late spring and early summer (with several females constructing small, cup-shaped nests among dense elevated vegetation within close proximity to one another to increase the likelihood of potential predators and egg thieves being spotted, and 3-5 pale, speckled and striped eggs being laid in each nest.) Females of this species have pale brown bodies and dark brown wings, while males (such as the individual pictured above) are nearly twice the size of females and possess iridescent black feathers that reflect light in such a way that they may appear purple, blue or green if seen under bright sunlight. As is true of many grackles the males of this species are frequently mistaken for crows (with the word grackle being derived from the Latin graculus, meaning “jackdaw”, in reference to the two small species of Eurasian crows known collectively as jackdaws), but despite their superficial similarities grackles and crows are not closely related (with grackles and their fellow American Blackbirds being more closely related to the American Sparrows of the family Passerellidae.)

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Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/9601-Quiscalus-major

(Side note: Some of the sources I’ve read about grackles seem to suggest that they’re among the most common passerine birds in North America, but I’m curios as to how true that is. I don’t suppose anyone who sees this post and lives in/has been to America can confirm or deny this?)

Red-winged blackbird male

Birds Eat all the Fruit Canceling National Trust Pick-Your-Own.  An event where people can pick their own cherries has been canceled after blackbirds "feasted" on the trees. It had been due to take place on 28 June at the National Trust's Cotehele medieval house. Laura Jarman from the National Trust said the birds were "so cute, we don't mind too much"

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1n26kj1eeo

Zoölogy; A Textbook for Colleges and Universities. Written by Theodore D. A. Cockerell. 1920.

Internet Archive

Roswitha Schrom on deviantart.com

A crimis gift for my wonderful beautiful friend @calypti! This is her Blackbirds character, Omen! I have so much art that I've just... not put online! Sorry!! I'll get to it over the winter. Expect more art soon.

This unusually mild fall

has resulted in the latest Grackles and Redwinged Blackbird I have seen in my yard. These two are from yesterday and the day before. I have not seen any today yet, and we had the first snow here this morning. The Redwinged Blackbird is an immature male, and I totally love his markings. (Just as I am writing this, I am seeing a RWBB outside.)

[Blackbirds hear tea whistling they rise and clap.]

BOTD: Orchard Oriole

Photo: Ad Konings

"Most common in the Midwest and South is this small oriole. It favors open areas with scattered groves of trees, so human activities may have helped it in some areas, opening up the eastern woodlands and planting groves of trees on the prairies. Orchard Orioles often gather in flocks during migration. The black-throated young male, sitting alone in a treetop and singing his jumbled song, is often confusing to beginning birders."

- Audubon Field Guide