A large flock of Common Grackles (Quiscalus quiscula). Click picture to see more detail.
(If elected I promise...) A bird on every limb.
I used to see large flocks like this a lot when I was a kid, but nowdays not so much.
Don't hate grackles because they're loud and numerous... according to the Hilton Pond site, they're one of the few birds that will eat Japanese beetles!
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I love it when the Dictionary of American Bird Names (Choate) gets saucy. For Quiscalus it includes,
The use of a word meaning "quail" seems out of place for a genus in the family Icteridae. [blackbirds]and
quiscula, another spelling for the generic term adding to the variety by changing the gender. We have been unable to determine why quisquilla, quaquila, quaquara, and quaquadra were passed by as they are all equally inappropriate.
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