they are one of the species rapidly expanding their range northward thanks,
in part at least, to climate change, less than twenty years ago I had to go
to Monterey to see them, atop traffic lights in a busty intersection,
screaming louder than the trucks..a couple years later they were in San
Francisco, Before 2014 they had arrived in Jackson County,OR, to breed
though they apparently migrate out for winter...if they get established in
the Willamette Valley they will do well in marshy areas. Hard to
believe the first time I saw one was in the 1980s on the lawns of the
university campus in Las Cruces, that was their native range...back then
On Fri, Nov 20, 2020 at 2:43 PM Bill Shanahan <iamshanahan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'm here and I just saw it.
On Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 14:34 Nicholas Mrvelj <nickmrvelj@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Birders,
Yesterday, I saw a post on the Facebook group “Flora and Fauna in Oregon
and Washington” about a male GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE being seen from the drive
through of a McDonald’s in a rather industrial section of North Portland.
After getting the news out via WhatsApp, several birders have since
relocated the bird. It is apparently roosting in a tree right next to the
McDonald’s on MLK and Columbia, and spending most of its day (if not all)
in that general area. All indications seem to show that this bird has been
present for a little while and will likely continue on as such for
hopefully days/weeks to come.
As a side note, this is the third record of GTGR in Multnomah County,
with the first occurring as recently as June of 2019.
Exact location:
45°34'54.1"N 122°39'43.2"W
https://goo.gl/maps/r5fLJkxCjnssEJgJ7
Good birding,
-Nick Mrvelj (PDX)
