Image of common grackle

Description:

I had put some birdseed out in a tray right outside the back door (wasn't about to try to fill the feeder, which is on the other side of that snowdrift). Wasn't sure if this poor grackle was going to make it. It was separated from its flock (no other grackles around, just a few starlings), & seemed so weak it was just flopping in the snow to feed. It may be a 1st-year bird -- it's not an adult male (a little duller & less iridescent). But it eventually ate its fill & recovered. Who knows, I may have saved its life. (I know, I know -- just what we need, more grackles.)