FreeLists / va-richmond-general / [va-richmond-general] Grackles

["Jim Blowers" <jimvb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As of late we have had huge flocks of grackles feed at our feeder and bathe
at our bird baths. They number as many as 30 black bright-eyed birds hopping
around looking for food and fighting each other off. They have been gobbling
up our suet. Sometimes, starlings and cowbirds get mixed in with the
grackles. I have been letting them flock to our yard, hoping that a
red-winged blackbird show among them. I saw two red-winged blackbirds
earlier this year in a flock of grackles. If they were starlings, I would
scare them all off, but since they are grackles, I simply let them be,
hoping that I see a red-winged blackbird among them. I notice that they are
skittish birds. If I go outside when a starling is on the feeder, it will
stay there for a while until I get really close. But with grackles, if I so
much as step up to the bay window indoors facing the bird area of our back
yard, the grackles will all fly away in one big swoosh.

 

Has anyone else encountered huge flocks of grackles? 

 

By the way, we heard hawks at our house this week but could not see them.

 

Jim Blowers