So far this spring, the only fledglings I’ve seen are common grackles. This one flew into a maple outside the office a few minutes ago. There were several others, possibly from the same nest, in the pines a few yards away. Several adults were around as well, some dropping into the drainage ditch by the street to grab some grub and bring it to the fledglings. Are grackles communal caretakers when the young ones leave the nest? This is what I enjoy about microbirding (my term for studying the birds close to home): We take the common birds for granted, but we learn so much about their lives when we watch them season after season, making the common birds actually quite interesting. Dare I say more interesting than the fancy warblers we get only fleeting glimpses of during migration?
