Journaling Question: Yellow-eyed Grackles No matter what you guessed about this question, you may be right, because the truth is, no one really knows! Young grackles have brown eyes at first, so the eye color may help separate the adults from the young during the first fall. It may also help grackles to find and recognize each other in large blackbird flocks. And it may simply be one way that an otherwise all-black bird shows its vigor and good health to the opposite sex, like the red shoulders of Red-winged Blackbirds or the vivid orange plumage of orioles. Copyright 2004 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to jn-help@learner.org