After posting photos of a male great-tailed grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) giving me the what-for as I totally invaded his space, it dawned on me that most of the grackle photos I’ve posted have been of males.  Probably because they’re most boisterous and lively and tend to be most obvious, or maybe because the females get kicked to the curb so often by the overbearing men of the species (sound familiar?).  But no matter the reason, the women of the clan deserve their time in the spotlight.  And I have just the photos to share.

One leg up as if to step away, perhaps even to flit into the air with the ease of a winged god, she turns and looks at me.  I look back.  That pause, that moment of indecision, and I have the photograph I want.  And she, assured of my intent to do no harm, turns and walks away along the shore.

Well, at least until a male of her species comes along and gripes at her.  She flees in fright.  Or disgust.

What a pose!  And ain’t she somethin’ to look at?  A bit of light mascara above the eye, some rouge upon the cheeks for a bit of darker color, a soft fade from light to dark from chin to breast…

I think it goes without saying that she’s one fine lookin’ woman.

The wind-blown look rarely does justice to any species.  And this day certainly had no mercy on any of us.  Winds blowing so hard that I couldn’t hold myself upright, this lass struggling to hold her head still as she gazed about.

Let’s just say water was blowing two meters/yards inland at the shore because of the winds, and that doesn’t include the stronger gusts.  That I could take a single photograph and that she could stand still for one moment meant the cosmos truly was smiling down on us that day.

But then she turned to face me directly.  If I hadn’t nearly blown off the pier into the water, maybe I could have made that picture a tad better.

Finally she turned, I fell, and this image was the result.  Lying flat on the planks while she laughed silently, I clicked a few shots before picking myself up and dusting myself off.  There were so many people about and I had the responsibility to look like I was in control…

Holding the camera up and blindly clicking the button resulted in this shot as she scoffed at me, mocked me even with that disdainful gaze.  Me lying flat on the pier as she looked on from her steady perch made clear one thing: Only one of us would walk away from this encounter with our pride intact.