The Merlin Bird ID app says this is likely a Boat-tailed Grackle, despite the short tail.
I saw a couple of them that had odd looking tails on a walk around an old rice field dike and wondered if they were juveniles. Turns out juveniles are brown.
And the yellow eye is variable in both Common and Boat-tailed Grackles.
Whichever it was, this one had climbing on his mind.
Great shots!!
Thank you, Isabel!
Very nice, Ellen! I really like grackles, another bird I haven’t seen much of this summer.
Thanks, Belinda! You have to love their iridescence. How interesting, and hopefully a natural swing in their movements, not a sign of something bad.