Female Great-Tailed Grackle
She isn't singing -- she's actually swallowing water from the fountain.
The grackle is a very common bird in Central Texas. They're blackbirds. The male Great-tailed Grackle has a shimmery, iridescent black and purple coat. The female is a pretty brown and about half the male’s size.
Many consider them a nuisance bird because they have very raucous voices and they are aggressive congregators, rather like pigeons in their urban behavior. They're a common sight around fast food restaurants or outdoor restaurants where they aren't a bit shy about hopping onto tables -- they're good at scavanging for food. These grackles, in fact, were at a smoothies bar but they seemed more interested in the water than in the organic health food smoothies being consumed by the Lady Bird Lake runners.
Female Great-Tailed Grackle
She isn't singing -- she's actually swallowing water from the fountain.
The grackle is a very common bird in Central Texas. They're blackbirds. The male Great-tailed Grackle has a shimmery, iridescent black and purple coat. The female is a pretty brown and about half the male’s size.
Many consider them a nuisance bird because they have very raucous voices and they are aggressive congregators, rather like pigeons in their urban behavior. They're a common sight around fast food restaurants or outdoor restaurants where they aren't a bit shy about hopping onto tables -- they're good at scavanging for food. These grackles, in fact, were at a smoothies bar but they seemed more interested in the water than in the organic health food smoothies being consumed by the Lady Bird Lake runners.