I imagine even non-birders have to take note of the Riverwalk's resident grackles. They are large, noisy, brash, gregarious and at least at this time of year, have a night roost in the trees around the Riverwalk. They go by the common name of Great-Tailed Grackle and it's apt, given the way the males fan their long tails and flourish them in an attempt to impress a female grackle. When they're not busy wooing, they stroll about snatching fallen tortilla chips. The grackles have an impressive array of vocalizations and at night when they are settling down for bed it is a veritable cacophony in the trees above.
There are also large numbers of white-winged doves, pigeons, mallards and house sparrows living off the leavings of huge numbers of tourists. The umbrellas which shade nearly every outdoor table along the Riverwalk are not just there to protect from sun and rain. I'm by no means a germ-phobe, but I'm quite glad I packed a purse-size bottle of hand sanitizer on this trip. Every unprotected outdoor surface bears evidence of the abundance of bird life in the area.
Here's a ten second video of a male great-tailed grackle bathing in a fountain at the San Antonio Botanical Garden:
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