Over the years, I have come to appreciate various species of blackbirds, whether they’re singing in the dead of night (thank you, Paul) or baked in a pie (thank you whomever penned “Sing a Song of Sixpence”) or perched in a line on telephone wires (thank you, AT&T). But, until I started to photograph birds, I’d neaver thought much about common blackbirds and people often dismiss them as noisy pests. Blackbirds seem so common and uninteresting until you really look at them: like the Red-winged Blackbird’s red epaulets flared or a Bronzed Cowbird whirling like a Dervish. Like other black birds, Great-tailed Grackles are large blackbirds that are often considered pests but their black feathers have an iridescent glow and are really quite beautiful. Sometimes, a common bird like the Great-tailed Grackle shows up someplace that makes them stand out. That happened at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, AZ. A female Great-tailed Grackle, the females usually being the less attractive of a bird species, suddenly appeared in the midst of a large stand of Desert Broom that was going to seed. We had been photographing much smaller birds there including the adorable Verdin. But, I found her stance and her fixed gazed quite compelling and she looked quite beautiful in the midst of the fluffy broom flowers, so I guess it all depends whether a bird is appealing or a nuisance.