We’ll call this fellow Satchmo and here’s his story. On Monday (June 8), we heard extremely loud, incessant, and strange screams that sounded like a crow being tortured by a laughing pterodactyl – a drawn out series of “GRReeeps.” The odd thing was that we were in the treeless parking lot of the Home Depo gardening center in Ellsworth, Maine. We scanned the sky and saw only two speechless herring gulls soaring.
As we walked to our car, we got to a point where it seemed that we were right under or over the sound. Then, suddenly, we saw him! (Sex assumed.) There, on the side of the gray bed of a Chevy pickup truck was this bundle of gray feathers screaming his fat-beaked head off.
This fledgling looked to be about six inches long and appeared more indignant than injured. Judging from his position, he could fly at least a little and seemed to be expecting to be fed. But, the only birds visible were those gulls, which would more likely eat him than feed him. He backed off and looked like he would fly when we got within 10 feet of him (200 mm lens used).
Now, a question for our good birders: What is he? He seems a bit like an American robin, but his feather and beak colors don’t seem right. His shape and shorter tail seem to rule out his being a common grackle, although he sort of sounded like an amped-up one. Help needed. (Ellsworth, Maine)