Another ID please + repost +repost + repost

This bird was seen on the shore at Laguna Del San Ignacio in Baja California, Mexico in early February. The whale watching guide had seen it several times but didn't know what it was. It was about the size of a blackbird.

Not coming from anywhere near that end of town , my only guess would be that its in the Grackle family Andy. I'd look closely at your bird guide in that section...

Andy,
As Nick mentioned, it is definitely a Grackle. It also is a female. I also am not aware of all of the species found in Mexico and don't have access to my mexican field guide right now, but I would take a guess that it is a female Great-tailed Grackle, but there may be another species I'm unaware of.
Drew

Thanks for your prompt replies. I thought it might be a grackle but my brother didn't think it was.

By elimination, it's a female Great-tailed Grackle. Common Grackle is almost unknown that far south in Mexico. Slender-billed is extinct. Boat-tailed is unknown in Baja, and the eye color is wrong anyway.

The tail isn't so "great," but the angle makes it difficult to judge. But long odds, that's what it is.

Hi Jim, thanks for that but I am still not convinced.
Here is a photo taken the day before, just up the coast of what looks like the same bird. Compare the size with the gull which is slightly closer to the camera.
I have photos taken in Ensenada the following week of what I think are Grackles and they look much bigger, like Scrub Jay size at least. The one in this photo only looked blackbird or thrush sized, no bigger than a Meadowlark if my memory is correct. The eye is dark, not light as in female Great-tailed Grackles. Possibley 1st year?

Here is photo no1 from Ensenada, I think it is a juvenile Great-tailed Grackle as there are no obvious markings on the head, but the eye is pale.

Here is photo no 2 from Ensenada. This looks like an adult female Great-tailed Grackle. These two birds were together as a pair, looking for food on the ground.
With regard to the first photo posted, is it not possible that it was a Common Grackle which was blown off course. Do they migrate in winter? Things happen differently in the UK in winter when exotic birds get blown off course. Many thanks for your input.

Andy -

I checked Howell and Webb, Birds of Mexico before posting. They state (p. 741) there are no documented reports of Common Grackles in Mexico as of the 1995 publication date. Let alone reports of the birds half way down the Baja Peninsula. The photos you have posted don't give me enough field marks to definitively say Common.

Now just because in 1995 there weren't documented reports doesn't mean you don't have a photo of a bird in Ensenada. But it does mean it is unlikely. Ranges are expanding for many species, but expansion in this hemisphere is northwards. Maybe someone else can weigh in, or you could email Richard Ditch privately and ask him to have a look. Or you can try to get someone at San Diego Audubon interested and have them take a look; these birds are a long ways from my usual turf. I could easily be wrong.

Interesting question, though.

Thanks again Jim I will try and follow it up as you suggest.