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Common Grackle Fledgling

Posted on Jun 8, 2016

This little dinosaur – er, uh…bird – is a Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) fledgling looking for another bite on a recent morning. The hatchlings and fledglings of so many species end up looking like tiny dinosaurs to me in some ways. For some reason the little Willets (Tringa semipalmata), a large shorebird species, always struck me as a dinosaur with a long neck, long legs and barely any wings. Without their flight ability and all of those feathers many species of young birds seem to be a glimpse of the past.

Common Grackle Fledgling-4426

Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation & Outreach Coordinator