[dropcap]I[/dropcap] was in downtown Kyle recently, walking around in a small city park with a circular fountain spraying water high into the fresh spring air.
Strutting around the base of the fountain was a male great-tailed grackle, resplendent in his black, iridescent plumage, and trying to impress a smaller, less splendid female grackle. As so often happens in the world of both birds and humans, she ignored him completely.
It occurred to me that I had not seen a grackle is a long time. Not that they are a rare species, because they are quite common in urban settings in this area, but it still had been a while since I ran across one.
The great-tailed grackle is the largest of the grackles and is a resident of the southwestern states. It looks a lot like the smaller boat-tailed grackle that is found along the coast, but is a separate species.
A glossy black in color, the 18-inch male displays a purple sheen in good light and its enormous tail is keel-shaped. The smaller, shorter-tailed female is brown in color, with a buffy breast. Both sexes have bright yellow eyes as adults.
If all the females are as frosty as that one in Kyle, I fear the species may soon be extinct.
