Feathered Friends By John Keeling
Great-tailed Grackle
T
he Greattailed Grackle is one of the more common birds along the shores of our lake, particularly near the pier in Ajijic and in the trees along the main street in Chapala. They are noisy. The call is a Photo by Vince Gravel raucous, squeaky whistle which is not exactly a fork of the small limbs at the end pleasant. If you travel between here of a branch, hidden by leaves. The and Mexico City, you will see these nest is a cup constructed of interwobirds everywhere, both in towns and ven grasses and small twigs. Nestin the countryside. ing commences in March and repeat Great-tailed Grackles are siminesting may occur into July. lar looking to the Common Grackle The male with a territory will atknown up north, however they are tempt to keep other males out. Howbigger, and you will notice that the ever, both sexes are far from faithtail is almost as long as the body. ful in their mating habits. The male The male, shown in the photograph, will protect the nests in its territory is jet-black and many of the feathagainst other species which might ers have a blue or purple iridescent want to eat the eggs or the young. sheen which shows up in sunshine. The female will defend the area The female is smaller and has a around its nest. brown head and neck. They are omnivorous, which You will find them along lakes means they will eat almost anything and waterways and irrigated pas– lizards, small snakes, snails, craytures. They prefer areas with clumps fi sh, plants, grains, nuts and fruits, as of mature trees either in towns or well as the eggs and the hatchlings near homesteads. of other birds. Throughout the last century this When you see great-tailed grackspecies has expanded its normal les, watch how proudly they strut! range northward from Mexico into (Ed. Note: John Keeling and his the US. While it used to be uncomwife lead ‘Los Audubonistas del mon in Texas, it is now common Lago’ which is a loose-knit group of there and is found in many states people interested in birds. To receive up to Kansas and even to the Cananotices of events please leave your dian border. The explosive period of e-mail address at www.avesajijic. this expansion occurred in the last com.) 50 years, and has been attributed to growth in the use of irrigation for agriculture. It occurs as a nonmigratory resident from Kansas all the way down through Central and South America as far as Peru. In the breeding season the males will display to females and to other males. The male conspicuously spreads its wings and tail feathers, lifts its beak into the air, quivers and fluffs up the body feathers while making a series of squeaking calls. The mature male selects a few trees as its exclusive territory, and will then attract several females to build nests in his territory. The nests are built half way up taller trees or shrubs, positioned in
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Saw you in the Ojo
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