Blackbirds? They should be called iridescent birds

The common grackle, Quiscalus quiscula, is one of the blackbirds most people love to hate. Ornithologists classify the grackle as a songbird, but lots of people would have a hard time with that description, as the bird’s voice tends to be more of a series of harsh croaks, that sound — at least to my ear — like variations of ”chit, chit, widget” than the pure joy say, to be heard in a goldfinch’s song.

(To hear a grackle, click here. The link will take you to a page about grackles on squidoo, a volunteer-written website that has thousands of pages, each one about some particular specialty interest.)

But I confess it wasn’t this grackle’s vocalizations that caught my attention, but his beautiful plumage. By no means could you call this fellow black. I would say he was sporting a range of colours usually seen at the jewellery store: A head made of saphire and tanzanite, a tourmaline eye, a metallic gold and bronze body, with flight feathers of amethyst and ametrine. (For more on gem colours, click here.) And all dusted with the magical quality known as iridescence, an optical phenomenon quite common throughout the natural world — in the wings and carapaces of some insects, the shells of some mollusks, the scales of some fish and many feathers — but rare elsewhere.

Trust Mother Nature to mark one of her most querulous beasts, Quiscalus quiscula, with such a magical appearance.

By the way, does anyone know anything about the banding of these birds? It looks like my Ashbridge’s specimen is wearing a tiny silver band around his right ankle — um, do birds even have ankles?

© BCP 2010