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Quiscalus major
This bird was about the size of a boat-tailed grackle or a large common grackle but with unusual coloration. The tail has a white and a dark feather and the head is mottled black and white while the body shows shades of brown with some white mottling. It has a dagger-like bill as seen on grackles.
Wakodahatchee Wetlands
I have seen immature boat-tailed grackles with multicolored feathers but nothing that looks like this.
Spotted on Mar 2, 2014
Submitted on Mar 3, 2014
8 Comments
It would be amazing if it were the same bird that is 15-20 miles from where I first saw her but anything is possible. She is quite unique looking and an interesting specimen that was difficult to identify initially.
This is a female boat tailed grackle comma I work at the end of Loxahatchee Road in Parkland Florida we have observed if not this female, one identical to her out here and breeding with the population. we love our Birds. I have many more pictures on my computer at home of her
unique....
Thank you so much for the interesting discussion, AshleyT and gatorfellows! I could not find a photo with a better view of the eye. So I think I will go with the leucistic common grackle as the ID. I had never seen anything like this coloration before so I appreciate the help
Agree :)
Florida Scrub Jays don't have brown on them, and this bird has a lot of brown. None of these photos show an angle where you can see the iris color. You can see the pupil color as being dark, which almost all birds have, but I can't see the iris at all.
I have been looking at Florida Scrub Jay, Aphelocoma coerulescens with leucism. They have dark eye, bill and feet. Interesting spotting :)
I'm leaning towards a male Common Grackle with a little bit of leucism. I say Common Grackle instead of Boat-tailed Grackle because Boat-tailed male is all dark, and a female is all brown. This bird has a brown belly and blue-ish back, just like a male Common Grackle. Then I say partially leucistic because immatures don't have white feathers. So even if it is molting, it wouldn't have white feathers but a leucistic bird would.