Failing that, perhaps we could find some regal Houston designation for the grackle. Consider this excerpt from B.C. Robison’s “Birds of Houston”: “Common grackles assemble in flocks in open areas such ...

Texans—especially urban Texans—are intimately familiar with grackles. The chattering, swaggering great-tailed grackle is a common sight in urban areas, with numbers that have boomed to 4.8 million in ...

My friend John loved grackles. He believed that, to be true to the oft-trumpeted independent Texas spirit, we should change our state bird. Why share the mockingbird, he said, with four other states, ...