Great-tailed Grackles

Ah, yes, another species found not only in SE Colorado but throughout much of that state. Most Great-tailed Grackles do migrate south for the winter from Colorado. The smaller brown bird on the left is a female. I found these in Socorro, New Mexico which is in the south central part of the state (and is the nearest town with motels near the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge). It is also where I am stuck as the clutch on my car is going out. I need to drive it into Albuquerque tomorrow to get a new clutch and I didn't want to push my luck by driving it today. So my birding today was limited to where I could walk and that was just a city park.

In addition to the grackles I did see at least 200 American Crows, many in the park but lots flying all around the area. I would have to rate them as abundant not only in this town but in the Bosque del Apache NWR where I saw hundreds of them yesterday. This species appears to be doing quite well in New Mexico. Maybe the West Nile virus hasn't been as hard on them here as in Colorado (a study published this year found that 86% of the corvids they tested in Colo in 2003 were positive for West Nile). SeEtta