“Male Grackle”

“Male Grackle”.  I took this photo back in 2022 at the Fort Island Gulf Beach in Crystal River, Florida.  Back when I was in high school this beach was one of my favorite haunts.  We used to spend hours and hours out there sunning, swimming, playing football and volleyball, and just generally having fun.  Now I go out on a fairly regular basis when I go to Crystal River to visit my Mom.  It’s a great place to see wading birds, gulls, these grackles, and terns among others. On this particular afternoon, I had gone out to try to catch the sunset, but I also wanted to do some birding before the sun set.  This grackle and his mate greeted me immediately as I got out of the truck, and hung around for a little while in hopes that I was going to feed them.  I didn’t, but they were hopeful even though the male was strutting around holding a piece of something (maybe bread or part of a potato chip?)  in his beak and teasing the female and the gulls with it.  He did eventually eat it, but he obviously wasn’t really that hungry.  I had a great time watching his antics, though. When it came time to process this image of him striding through the sand with his treat, I tried to give it the look of a watercolor painting.  I did it using a couple of different photo processing apps and I finished it with some hand painting.  I’ve always loved to look of watercolors, and really enjoyed working on this piece.