These birds show the family instinct for living in flocks large and small, not
of ravens only, but of any birds of their own genera. In the art of nest
building they could instruct most of their relatives. High up in evergreen
trees or on the top of cliffs, never very near the seashore, they make a
compact, symmetrical nest of sticks, neatly lined with grasses and wool from
the sheep pastures, adding soft, comfortable linings to the old nest from year
to year for each new brood. When the young emerge from the eggs, which take
many curious freaks of color and markings, they are pied black and white,
suggesting the young of the western white-necked raven, a similarity which, so
far as plumage is concerned, they quickly outgrow. They early acquire the
fortunate habit of eating whatever their parents set before them
-- grubs, worms, grain, field-mice; anything, in fact, for the raven is a
conspicuously omnivorous bird.
PURPLE GRACKLE (Quiscalus quiscula) Blackbird family
Called also: CROW BLACKBIRD; MAIZE THIEF; KEEL-TAILED GRACKLE;
[COMMON GRACKLE, AOU 1998]
Length -- 12 to 13 inches. About one-fourth as large again as the
robin.
Male -- Iridescent black, in which metallic violet, blue, copper,
and green tints predominate. The plumage of this grackle has
iridescent bars.
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