Bird watching: Brewer’s Blackbird

Self-tutoring about birds: the tutor gratefully describes a recent introduction.

Yesterday morning, loading the bags in the car at a resort on South Vancouver Island, I noticed a black bird behind me to the left, maybe about ten feet away. It had a distinctly bright eye. The sunshine revealed its iridescence, most noticeably green under the black.

The bird meandered towards me, calling. “What bird is this?” I wondered.

Looking at sources, I first thought it a common grackle, except they don’t live here. Further inquiry yielded Brewer’s BlackBird, which does. Its call alternated between two distinct ones, like recorded in the source.

Interestingly, when I described the bird to my wife and showed her a picture, she said she’d seen one the day before.

Source:

allaboutbirds.org