{"id":110423,"date":"2023-02-21T03:45:06","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T10:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=110423"},"modified":"2023-02-21T03:48:56","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T10:48:56","slug":"coming-soon-great-tailed-grackle-breeding-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/21\/coming-soon-great-tailed-grackle-breeding-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Coming Soon: Great-tailed Grackle Breeding Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

On two of my most recent walks I have seen Great-tailed Grackles. Seeing them reminded me that Great-tailed Grackle breeding season is coming soon.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Great-tailed Grackle solo display \u2013 Nikon D500, f14, 1\/200, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the Great-tailed Grackle<\/span><\/a> breeding season the males will begin to display territorial behaviors. The territorial displays of males can be comical even when it is an individual bird. I believe this male I photographed in mid March of last year was exhibiting the Ruff-Out and Head-Up behavior simultaneously. The male grackle walked strange, looked funny, and I had a hard time controlling my laughter.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Great-tailed Grackle duo displaying \u2013 Nikon D500, f14, 1\/160, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When there is more than one male Great-tailed Grackle displaying territorial behavior it can be even more humorous. They can also fight during these displays. I photographed some fights last year but I didn’t have the shutter speed I needed to capture sharp images of those interactions.<\/p>\n

These displays are important for mate selection.<\/p>\n

Even so, I can’t help myself, I giggle a lot when I am photographing Great-tailed Grackles during these displays.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Great-tailed Grackle after a bath \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/640, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Great-tailed Grackles also look comical while they are bathing and after their baths. This wet, scruffy-looking male walked past me last March right after it bathed. Yes, I laughed out loud.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/h2>\n

I probably should warn my neighbors that I will be laughing often while I preview images I take of this species this breeding season. By the time that happens the weather might be warmer and I may have my living room windows open because I love fresh, spring air. The sound of laughter carries.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Great-tailed Grackle preening a tail feather \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Male Great-tailed Grackles can even look amusing when they preen, especially when they grab their long tail feathers.<\/p>\n

The songs and calls<\/span><\/a> of Great-tailed Grackles during territorial displays can sound a little wacky too. I actually like their songs and calls.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Great-tailed Grackle looking intensely at something \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/400, ISO 320, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Female Great-tailed Grackles don’t display much but they do observe the males on occasion. The females can look pretty intense. They don’t make me laugh as much as the males do. The serious look of this female did though.<\/p>\n

The Great-tailed Grackle breeding season is just around the corner now and I can barely wait for it to arrive!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Great-tailed Grackle photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On two of my most recent walks I have seen Great-tailed Grackles. Seeing them reminded me that Great-tailed Grackle breeding season is coming soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,426,709,26],"tags":[4004,5109,3483,5522,4142,9404,779,13697,4608,4070,4779,4780,2429,12823,13700,6865,4062,10698,4046,13699,4778,12825,13698,165,8018,373],"class_list":["post-110423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-great-tailed-grackles","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bath","tag-blackbirds","tag-breeding-display","tag-close-up","tag-display","tag-displaying","tag-duo","tag-feather","tag-female","tag-grackle","tag-grackles","tag-great-tailed-grackle","tag-head-up","tag-intensely","tag-looking","tag-male","tag-park","tag-portrait","tag-preening-tail","tag-quiscalus-mexicanus","tag-ruff-out","tag-solo","tag-spring","tag-urban","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-tailed-grackle-males-displaying-mia-mcpherson-2401.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-sJ1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100863,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/16\/it-is-great-tailed-grackle-breeding-season\/","url_meta":{"origin":110423,"position":0},"title":"It 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Great-tailed Grackle – Whatchu Lookin’ At?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"When I photographed this Great-tailed Grackle male in a pine yesterday I was torn between focusing on taking photos of him and laughing out loud.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great-tailed Grackle male in a pine close up, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-male-in-a-conifer-mia-mcpherson-4060.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-male-in-a-conifer-mia-mcpherson-4060.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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When I found it, I giggled out loud because of where it was perched.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Great-tailed Grackle and weathervane, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/great-tailed-grackle-male-weathervane-mia-mcpherson-3615.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/great-tailed-grackle-male-weathervane-mia-mcpherson-3615.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/great-tailed-grackle-male-weathervane-mia-mcpherson-3615.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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