The common grackle. I didn’t really notice them when I was young. This is most likely because they were just that, “common.” They were the bane of the birdfeeder–pushing out the little songbirds to gobble up a feast—and the forager of the fields–swooping down in a black cloud of a flock.
I didn’t really register that they did not exist in my west coast home until I saw them when I returned to…