Wednesday, January 16, 2013

in decline: grackles




At the local CBC ten days ago, Shearwater and I watched as a flock of 30 or so common grackles flew into a tree off Ginn Road. We estimated their number and marked them on our tally sheet.

Yesterday, I was surprised to be reminded that the shiny, iridescent black birds with intense yellow eyes log in at number 14 on the list of Audubon's 20 common species in decline, having lost over 50 percent of their total population in the past forty years. This means that the gregarious common grackle may become the not-so-common grackle if this trend continues.

For other species on the list go to: In Decline.

- Photo by Howard B. Eskin

1 comment:

Dorothy said...

That's a mean looking bird!