Common Grackle

                                                                    Common Grackle
 The Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) is just that, 'common'.  However, it wasn't always common.  It was quite scarce in the early 1800s. By the late 1800s it became more common.  Jeffries reported it was 'not uncommon' at Grand Falls in 1879.  By 1920 it became very common and perhaps was more common then than today.  Numbers have decreased significantly in the last 30 years.

The range of the Common Grackle is wide spread.  It breeds from western Newfoundland across the Prairie Provinces to inland British Columbia southward to New Mexico and eastward to Florida, a large part of North America.  Flocks arrive here in New Brunswick in late March or early April and leave in October prior to gathering into large flocks.  Some of the flocks have been epic in size.  A flock of 10,000 was reported from Sackville in 1968.  

The Common Grackle is one of three grackles which inhabit North America.  The Great-tailed Grackle and the Boat-tailed Grackle are much larger than the Common Grackle; 46 cm/18 inches, 42 cm/16.5 inches respectively compared to 32 cm/12.6 inches of the Common Grackle.  The Great-tailed Grackle inhabits the southwestern US and Mexico and the Boat-tailed Grackle inhabits the coastal US from Massachusetts to Texas including all of Florida.  With the differences in size and geographical location one is not likely to mistake the Common Grackle for its 'cousins'. 

The Common Grackle is one of our three common 'blackbirds' which spend their summers here.  It is easily differentiated from the Red-winged Blackbird and the Brown-headed Cowbird.  It is larger and has no wingbars and is black throughout.  On seeing a flock of blackbirds, the Grackles appear larger and heavier in body with a longer tail and a thicker, larger bill.  The tail is long and keel-shaped.  The tail shape is easily seen in the birds in flight.  Grackles are beautiful when the sun shines on them.  They show blue, green and bronze iridescence.  In a flock this is very beautiful.  Grackles have a pale yellow iris.  They are noisy birds and can make their presence known.  They readily enjoy seed scattered on the ground under your feeders and are not afraid to hop on the feeder or try to get suet from your wire baskets.  

                                Common Grackles Showing Bronze, Blue and Green Iridescence

Common Grackles prefer open and edge habitats, urban and agricultural areas, marshes, swamps, golf courses, etc.  You can see why they are common.  They have been able to adapt to many different habitats.  The nest is built in a tree, often a conifer, 1 to 3 metres above ground.  It is bulky and made of twigs, grass, mud, feathers and sometimes items of human garbage.  The 4 to 7 eggs are green to light brown with purple markings and are incubated for 12 to 14 days by the female.  The diet of this species includes insects, eggs and nestlings of other bird species, lizards, fish, fruit and seeds.  At your feeder they readily eat cracked corn, suet, millet, nuts and sunflower seeds.  Indeed, they are a versatile species.  

This species is very vocal.  Their call is a 'chuck' and their song is a squeaky 'reedle-eak'.  This spring we had large flocks of grackles visit our yard.  We often saw groups of 10 to 40 or 50.  The other birds get upset when the Grackles are around.  This is probably due to their preying on the other birds' young or eggs.  They also dominate the feeding area and sometimes leave little for the other birds.  

                                            Common Grackle Feeding from Seed Container

In the fall here it is fun to see the Common Grackles gathering in large flocks prior to migration.  Birders often check these flocks carefully for other species, especially Rusty Blackbirds.  This much less common species shows rusty markings at that time of year and can be easily identified.  

Common Grackles are interesting in their being so adaptable.  As many of us have seen, some inhabit coastal areas and they have learned to forage along the tide line where they find invertebrates.  They will even wade into the water to catch fish.  Another interesting behaviour is 'anting'.  They will spread out their wings while lying breast-down on the ground and allow ants to crawl through their feathers.  It is thought that the formic acid secreted by the ants is used by the Grackle to kill parasites.  It has also been observed that single Grackles (who for some reason do not have mates that season) will become helpers to other couples with their offspring.  

The Common Grackle, a common species here which flocks with other blackbirds, is an interesting and unique species when one takes a closer look!

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks --- Ultra-Rare in New Brunswick

                                        Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks  [Andrew Olive Photo]

The Black-bellied Whistling-Duck is definitely an ultra-rare species for New Brunswick.  It has never been recorded as being present in the province before now.  It has been seen very occasionally in Nova Scotia and Maine but none has been seen or photographed here.  The species has, however, been experiencing a northeasterly flow of vagrants over the years and it was an expected species sometime for NB.  Given that, the few birders, who were lucky enough, did not expect to be able to see and photograph this rare duck this year.  

There was one prior possible sighting of this species in NB a number of years ago.  A person allegedly saw one on the Miramichi River near Boiestown, took a distant photo and reported it.  Unfortunately the photo was not clear enough to prove it was a Black-bellied Whistling-Duck so the record was not accepted.  However, on 11 June 2021 that all changed!  On that day Steve Ouellette found 6 Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks behind the Atholville lagoon along some of the rubber berms.  He reported them through Andrew Olive who saw and photographed them (see above).  A few birders were able to make their way north to see them.  Unfortunately they must have left during the night because they were gone early the next morning.  Apparently a few days earlier a small group of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks was reported from Connecticut and then New Hampshire.  These might have been the same ducks that arrived in Atholville.  Bird movement is interesting!

All ducks are members of the Anatidae family.  The family Anatidae includes 3 subfamilies found in North America; Dendrocygninae (Whistling-Ducks),  Anserinae (true geese and swans) and Anatinae (ducks).  The Dendrocygninae subfamily is by far the smallest group including 8 species which are all found mainly in tropical regions.  Anatomically they are distinctive.  They are slim, long necked, and they have long bills.  They stand noticeably upright.  They have whistling calls and some perch in trees.  They were formerly known as 'tree ducks'.  Notice the long necks, long legs and long bills in the photo above.  

The Black-bellied Whistling-Duck's normal range is the coastline of south-eastern US mainly Louisiana and Texas and Mexico.  It ranges through Central America and into South America.  It prefers quiet shallow freshwater ponds, estuaries, wetlands and marshes.  I have been fortunate to see them in Georgia where they were feeding on roots and seeds of marsh plants.  When I first saw them I immediately recognized the long pink legs and upright stance as being different.  See the photo below.  

                                        Black-bellied Whistling-Duck  [Bev Schneider Photo]

The Black-bellied Whistling-Duck is a large duck (53 cm [21 inches long]),  just a bit smaller than the Mallard.  Besides the features mentioned above, its red bill and bubblegum pink legs and feet are very noticeable.  It has a gray face, rufous brown breast and back, white wings and a black belly.  The white eyering is easily seen.  It appears tall and slim when it stands.  Imagine how amazed and excited the birders were who got to  see it.  

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks nest mainly in tree cavities.  They also nest on the ground in a poorly-formed nest.  Twelve to sixteen white eggs are laid and incubated by both adults for about 28 days.  The ducklings fledge at about 56 days and remain with the adults for the rest of the year.  This species feeds mainly at night on seeds, roots and grasses.

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks are named for their whistling vocals.  That is described by some as a multi-syllabic nasal whistle, a pe-che or a pe-che-che-ne.  

Another close relative of the Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, the Fulvous Whistling-Duck has been seen in NB.  A flock of 21 of them arrived on Grand Manan in the autumn of 1961.  This flock broke up and smaller groups were seen on Grand Manan and at Evandale, Kings County.  Five were shot by hunters and are preserved in both the Grand Manan and the NB Museums.  

I think we can agree the Black-bellied Whistling-Duck is an unusual duck.  One early American ornithologist described it as 'most un-duck-like'.  Being a tree duck, it readily uses duck boxes.  This has undoubtedly helped its range expansion.  You never know, we just might witness a 'brace' of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks soon in one of our Ducks Unlimited areas.  Wouldn't that be nice!

Luna Moth

                                                                Luna Moth Adult  [Internet Photo]

The Luna Moth is a spectacular moth, for me our most beautiful moth.  It is very large with a wingspan of 8 to 11.5 cm (3 to 4.5 inches).  Rarely it can get as large as 17 cm (7 inches).  I saw one this past weekend (June 6) in a hardwood forest at Scotch Settlement, York County.  Believe me, it is a mouth-dropping experience.  It flew past me from behind and quickly made its way among the deciduous leaves just above eye level.  Its awesome light lime colour was remarkable and the trailing tails on its hind wings were waving back and forth as it flew past.  It looked to be about 15 cm (6 inches) across.  Unfortunately it did not give a photographic opportunity.  As shown in the photo above, the Luna Moth  has simulated eye spots on both the fore- and hind wings.  The body is white.  The antennae are feathered, moreso in the males.

I have not seen many Luna Moths in my lifetime.  After reading about their life history I now know why.  The adults are very short lived.  In fact, they are only around for about a week.  So let's look at the life history.  The eggs are laid under leaves of deciduous trees.  In New Brunswick the favoured trees are maple, oak, willow and white birch.  (See how important it is to plant native trees).  In our part of North America Luna Moths go through only one life cycle per year.  Further south they can manage 2 or 3 cycles.  The eggs hatch into larvae which then go through five stages.  They feed, grow and then pupate repeatedly until they get large enough to metamorphisize into adults.  

                                                        Luna Moth Larva (Caterpillar)  [Internet Photo]

The larvae grow up to 70-90 cm in length (2.8-3.5 inches).  The larvae go through 5 cycles before becoming a cocoon.  Most stages look similar.  The black spots are sometimes burgundy in colour.  All cycles are carried out in the same deciduous tree.  After the fifth cycle (instar) the larva crawls to the ground and forms a cocoon in the leaf litter under the tree.  The adults then emerge in about 2 weeks from the cocoon.  It takes 2 to 3 hours for the adults to inflate their wings and harden their structure so they can fly.  The adult females fly to a preferred tree and then emit their pheromones to attract a male.  She usually accepts the first male that arrives.  The breeding process takes place around midnight and it takes about 2 hours.  The female usually dies after laying her eggs.  The male remains alive for a few more days in order to breed more females.  The adults are nocturnal and remain alive for only 7 to 10 days.  No wonder we rarely see them.  

Luna Moths have a few interesting defence mechanisms.  The larvae make a clicking noise when in danger.  These sounds extend into the ultrasound frequencies but are also audible to humans.  They also regurgitate intestinal contents as a deterrent.  Bats prey on Luna Moths and research has shown that their trailing long tails on their hind wings scramble echolocation helping to protect them from bats.  

Luna Moth populations are threatened by pesticides.  Another insult has come from well-meaning attempts to control the gypsy moth.  A fly was introduced from Europe to help control the gypsy moth and unfortunately adversely affected the Luna Moth as well.  

Luna Moths, Actias luna,  are members of the Saturniidae family, giant silk moths.  They have been mentioned in Greek mythology, modern pop music and literature. A Luna Moth was featured on a US postage stamp in June, 1987.