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All: There have been no detailed descriptions as yet of the large grackle seen at feeders and on the Daniels Head saltmarsh on CSI. The latter habitat might suggest Boaat-tailed, although numbers Common Grackles forage have been foraging there, too; birds can be pretty flexible in habitat choice. The field guides note the difficulties of distinguishing Boat-tailed from Great-tailed, and the monograph on blackbirds by Jaramillo and Burke starts off by stating that it is "very difficult." Structure, plumage patterns, and vocalizations are all important. I do have a photo taken with a point-and-shoot by Julie Smith of the bird partly hidden in the bushes at their in Barrington Passage, I have greatly cropped and up-pixellated this image and sent it to some US E. Coast experts familiar with the expected, pale-eyed subspecies _torreyi_, to see what they think. I'll put it on the NS-RBA photo site in due course. Meanwhile Eileen Smith just sent the following further information: "We keep looking, but haven't seen it again, sadly, but have our camera ready, in case. There is another possible sighting in Sydney Heights, North East Pt. CSI by a friend, named Cecil Atkinson, who has also had a pileated woodpecker and a female eastern bluebird at his property in the past." So, Cecil Atkinson's property (feeder?) might be worth checking by anyone down CSI way. All the best, Ian Ian McLaren
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