Is Black Ugly?

(June 12th) A lot of people think Common Grackles are ugly birds. They are certainly loud and in many places quite common. I'm not one of those who think they are ugly though. They are quite intelligent birds and have some fascinating behavior. What I like most about them is this cool metallic sheen they have. This can be really tough to capture in a photo and being black birds there is often too much contrast to get good pictures of them. If there is little contrast then usually there is little direct light to provide that shimmer. But I got lucky and found an individual in some great light just as the sun was clearing the horizon. I'll let you be the judge of whether it is an ugly black bird or not.

The target species at Barton eluded for me another day, but the Song Sparrows were cooperative a second time. Today they were busy singing and earning their name. Most of the time I was at too low of an angle to make an attractive shot, but this male did drop down for a few seconds to give me this picture.