Great-tailed Grackle X Brewer's Blackbird (male)
12 May 1999, Preisker Park, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara County, California
by Curtis Marantz

My understanding is that Jamie Chavez initially found this bird in Preisker Park on 9 May 1999. Although I was somewhat grumpy after hearing about the bird upon my arrival in Los Angeles (after I had just driven through Santa Maria), I was far more grumpy after hearing that the bird flew back-and-forth into San Luis Obispo County! Despite my initial concerns about the bird having been reported as a "Purple" Grackle, the comments of some observers regarding the bird's song and overall structure convinced me that the bird was indeed a Common rather than an odd Great-tailed Grackle. Even still, I was (and still am) unconvinced that "Purple" Grackle is likely to ever make it to California on its own steam. Based on this feeling, I went up to Santa Maria with the idea that this is one grackle that should be examined carefully. It took me over an hour to initially locate the bird this morning, in part because I finally found the bird in the extreme southern end of the park, rather than towards the north end where most people had reported it. I unfortunately saw the bird for only a few minutes as it sang from the pines lining the southern end of the park before it disappeared. I assume that it flew south into the neighborhoods when I wasn't looking. By this time I was tired enough of the park that I decided to go look for migrants in southern SLO County. When I returned in the early afternoon, it was no more than ten minutes before I located the bird walking around on the lawns of the park. I then spent the next hour-and-a-half following the bird as it walked around the lawns in the southeastern quadrant of the park. Although it twice flew into the neighborhood directly east of the park, it never went anywhere near the north end of the park. I saw the bird at distances down to 10-12 meters. The light was excellent, with the early afternoon sun at my back. Though the bird occasionally flew up into the trees, it spent most of its time walking around, often alone, but sometimes in the company of the many Brewer's Blackbirds (Euphagus cyanocephalus) that were also present.

Although the blackbirds did not seem to have a problem with the grackle when it was on the ground, they invariably chased it about when in flight and even when perched in the trees. This bird was never seen to associate with any of the limited number of Great-tailed Grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus) that were also in the park intermittently. Something that seemed a little odd to me was that the bird strutted around with the tail cocked up at an angle much as I would have expected from a Great-tailed Grackle, but unlike what I remember from Common. In addition to my views of the bird on 12 May (from which this account was largely based), I again saw this bird on the afternoon of 14 May 1999 with Brian Daniels, after which I added a few additional notes to my description.

I noted three different vocalizations from this bird. Although these vocalizations each sounded reminiscent to those of Common Grackle, I must admit that I did not immediately recognize any of these vocalizations as unequivocally being from this species. The three vocalizations were, in decreasing order of occurrence, a soft "chick" call that seemed to me to be slightly higher in frequency that the "check" calls of the blackbirds, but noticeably more so than the usual "chuck" call of Common Grackle. Also heard was a shrill "seeee" call that was generally given in flight or when the bird seemed like it was ready to take flight. I am not sure to what degree this call is given by Common Grackle. Finally, this bird often sang, when it puffed up its body, drooped its wings and spread its tail, sometimes while pointing the bill more or less skyward. I described the song as the same "seeee" noted above, followed by an "schwiiinng," with the latter part being thin and somewhat raspy. Though reminiscent to the songs I remember from "Bronzed" Grackles (Q. q. versicolor), this song was certainly not exactly as I remember from that subspecies.

Visually, this bird was good for Common Grackle in size and structure. It was a relatively large blackbird that was maybe one-third to one-half larger than the Brewer's Blackbirds, with a body size similar to those of the American Robins (Turdus migratorius) in the park, some of which were seen in direct comparison. The bird also had a sloping forehead and a flat-crowned appearance that accentuated the long bill. I estimated that, if reversed, the bill would have extended back well behind the eye. The bill was also noticeably stouter than those of the blackbirds, but not nearly as long, nor as heavy, as those of the Great-tailed Grackles. The tail was approximately as long as the body. It was also only slightly keel-shaped, but noticeably graduated to at least one-fourth its length. This bird's plumage was entirely black, but with an obvious glossiness almost throughout. The crown and facial region, back through the auriculars and down through the throat, had a dark-bluish sheen that resulted in a relatively obvious contrast between the throat and breast. This contrast was somewhat less apparent on the face and crown. Contrasting with the bluish regions of the head, the rest of the upperparts were quite evenly glossed with purple. This purple sheen extended from about the rear part of the crown back through the nape and across the back, scapulars, and rump. Though the wing coverts were similarly glossy, their precise color was less easy to determine given the difference in angle relative to the sun. When seen in good light, the coverts seemed to be glossed with a greenish-blue color. Despite my looking specifically for it on 14 May, I never noted any contrast between the tips and bases of these feathers. The inner secondaries were again purplish like the back. The wings were quite long, with a primary projection approximately equal to the full length of the exposed secondaries. Though I could count at least four visible primary-tips, there could have been more evident. The primaries were also somewhat less glossy than were the inner secondaries. The tail was seemingly less glossy than were the remaining upperparts. Under the best of circumstances, the upperside of the tail seemed to be glossed with bluish, but it was a little difficult to be certain of this. Below the bluish of the throat, the remaining underparts generally looked quite flat in appearance, but at times with a purplish sheen present on the breast and sides. It is also likely that the apparent lack of sheen on the underparts was the result of shading from the sun. To complete the description with the soft-part colors, the bill, legs and feet were a flat-black, and the eyes a reasonably bright, yellow in color.

Though I have previously seen three Common Grackles in California, including one in Santa Barbara County, there has never before been a "Purple" Grackle seen anywhere in the west. Despite my having extensive experience with the widespread "Bronzed" Grackle (Q. q. versicolor), and limited experience with "Florida" Grackle (nominate Q. quiscula), I have never carefully looked at the third subspecies (Q. q. stonei) of the Atlantic seaboard from approximately New York south to the Carolinas. Louis Bevier has further indicated to me that all birds now seen south of about Delaware seem to show signs of intergradation with Q. q. versicolor. With this said, I can unequivocally say that the bird is not Q. q. versicolor based both on its lack of a glossy-blue hood and the purplish color of the body and wings. I have seen countless "Bronzed" Grackles, but have never seen one that was largely purple, nor one that conspicuously lacked a good head/back contrast. Based on this bird's lack of a deep-green gloss to the back, I am also confident that the bird was not nominate Q. quiscula. I am somewhat less certain about the appearance of Q. q. stonei, but should note that Louis Bevier suggested that my description of the Santa Maria bird did not fit his "mental picture" of this species, despite the fact that this is a common bird where he lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Louis indicated to me that Q. q. versicolor and Q. q. stonei are not really all that different, and that both tend to have conspicuous blue hoods. He also stressed that he has never really considered "Purple" Grackles to be all that purple. Although it is possible that Louis' idea of a "classic" Purple Grackle may be somewhat biased by intergradation of Q. q. stonei and Q. q. versicolor in the Philadelphia area, some consider the entire Atlantic population a potential hybrid swarm. In that I would expect hybrid birds to look more rather than less like "Bronzed" Grackles, it seems that the Santa Maria bird's near lack of a hood combined with its purple back is problematical. I suspect that specimens would be the best way to answer this question, especially if one of them happened to be from Santa Maria!

The other possibility would be a hybrid between one of the two grackles and Brewer's Blackbird. To me, the strongest argument against a hybrid is this bird's apparently perfect size and structure for a Common Grackle. Moreover, its vocalizations may be closer to Common Grackle than they are to anything else, though I noted that this bird's song is really not all that different from those of the Brewer's Blackbirds. In fact, Michael Patten believed that the bird's song was within range of Brewer's Blackbird based on my tape recording. Add to this the fact that the purple color really does match closely what I would expect from a Great-tailed Grackle, and we have a potential problem. Apart from size, structure, and maybe display posture and vocalizations, the best plumage character supporting Common Grackle is probably the weakly hooded appearance when seen from below, though this too may not be diagnostic given that Brewer's Blackbird also has a hooded appearance. The tail cocking behavior of this bird points towards Great-tailed Grackle in my opinion. Even better as characters pointing to a Great-tailed Grackle X Brewer's Blackbird hybrid are the very even appearance of the purple sheen on this bird's upperparts, its general lack of a hood, and the lack of multicolor spangling and fringes on the scapulars and coverts (all of which point to Great-tailed Grackle as a parent). Despite this bird being similar to Common Grackle based on structure, I noted quite carefully that all of these points (intermediate size, moderate keel and graduation to the tail, and moderately large bill) are also intermediate between Brewer's Blackbird and Great-tailed Grackle. In the end, I believe that a Great-tailed Grackle X Brewer's Blackbird hybrid is the most likely explanation for the marks noted on this bird, though without a specimen, the bird's true identity may never be known.