A grackle searching for food.

Everything I know about birds, I’ve learned I’m learning from Abraham Lincoln and his Birds Blog, which features photos of birds that visit his backyard in Ohio.   It’s amazing to see the different birds, from hawks to sparrows to woodpeckers, to hummingbirds and more, that land there.   Amazing!  The different birds and his photos inspired me to start paying attention to the birds in my neighborhood.

I’ve learned from Abraham about the various birds,  I’ve learned about feeding them.  I’ve learned about photographing them.  I’ve learned that I enjoy watching them.   It’s incredible to realize that there are a lot of different types of birds in the city.  Before I started noticing the birds in the city, I only recognized the pigeons.   Later, I learned about the sparrows.  Oh!  and starlings, too. 

Then, I started spotting other beautiful birds that I’d normally never seen on the city sidewalks — a mockingbird (a mockingbird!), a flicker (in front of my apartment building!), a hawk (oh.  my.  gosh!), an American robin (very cute), a blue jay (it flew away very quickly), a mourning dove (they land on my bedroom window sill and the fire escape all the time) and a woodpecker.  I first saw and heard a woodpecker in the park.  It was a tiny but loud little bird.  I was so shocked at it’s appearance because until that point, all I knew about woodpeckers was from the cartoon starring Woody Woodpecker.  Sad to say, but I seriously thought that cartoon illustration was what a real woodpecker looked like.  It was a real learning experience for this city girl.  

Anytime I have a bird question (which is most of the time), I email Abraham and he’s kind enough to identify the bird.  Anytime I have a DUMB question about birds, he patiently answers me.

The other day, while walking to the bus stop, I saw an unusual-looking bird that I’d never seen before.  It was black with an iridescent coloring, yellow irides, a long bill and tail.  Very striking.  You know I had to miss my bus to take his photo, right?   As I photographed him, I was surprised that he didn’t fly away as soon as he realized that I was paying attention to him, like the other birds do.  Instead, he concentrated on looking for food.   I had some black sunflower seeds in my pocket and threw it on the ground for him to eat but he ignored the seeds.  I suppose he didn’t like black sunflower seeds.  Immediately, some pigeons swooped in, followed by sparrows to eat the seeds.  So much for trying to help out the black bird find food.

Later, I emailed Abraham about the bird and he kindly identified it for me.  It was a grackle.  It was very really cool to see a grackle in the city.  My first-time sighting.

Thanks, Abraham for your inspiration and always answering all my questions. 

Paz

I stood a foot or two away from the bird.  He didn’t seem scared of me and instead stared at me.

Then he went back to looking for food.

He even turned his back on me…

… and continued to look for food.