Help to identify bird in metro detroit, MI

[Bellie816]

Hi Guys,

Does anyone know what type of bird this is? I know it's not a very good picture, but he was coming to my feeder with black oil sunflower seeds and to my water dishes. He is a little bigger than a grackle or starling and looks similar, but all brown (no speckles) with iridescent purple wings. He has large feet and a large beak similar to a grackle or starling. Anybody have a clue? Thanks



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Jackie

[cwl50?]

Hi Jacki..It looks like a grackle to me.

Welcome....Clyde

[Jim B]

Yep Common Grackle. It will eat you out of house and home!
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[Bellie816]

Do you know why this grackle isn't black with a shiny greenish blue head like the rest of them? I know it looks just like one, but it is all brown with purple wings...maybe it's a juvenile? Not sure but very curious )
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Jackie

[Jim B]

Was the bird wet? Did it hit the bird bath or a sprinkler?

Juveniles tend to be all brown. At one point I remember reading that there are three different races of
Common Grackle, the Bronzed Grackle of New England, an almost all purple one of the southern states
and an intermediate race (a mixture of the two?) in the mid-Atlantic states. All of them look sort of black
with a purple/ green head from a distance to me.

Within those variations, Common Grackles can display different colors in different light and when wet.
It is not to much of a reach to say Common Grackles are black with a purple/green head except when
they are not; but therein lies a path to madness......

Here's a beautiful Common Grackle I photographed during a light rain in a swamp. What color is it?


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[Bellie816]

I saw in a National Geographic book that immature females are all brown.... That answers my question! )
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Jackie