No, there’s not a pack of wild Indians circling the ranch house whooping and hollering, killing the men and raping the women. I said a “flock”, that’s birds, and there’s not really any Comanche Indians either, just birds acting like them. I haven’t written much about the birds round here lately, but now some interesting things have been happening that I want to tell you about.
The weather’s still cold here and we’re hoping spring is just round the corner. There isn’t a lot of food available with the insects thinned out and grain eaten up, so the birds are having a hard time this time of year trying to find substance. I guess the shortage of food has caused this large flock of birds to descend on the ranch’s small bird feeders. A neighbor calls them Grackles, I wasn’t sure, they were just large black birds to me. Anyway, one day no black birds, the next day THOUSANDS appeared. I’m not kidding, it was like the grasshopper plague of the twenties and thirties. They not only were like wild Indians, they are big bullies and crowded out all the other birds from all my feeders. I quickly got on the internet and looked for ideas. Birder’s World gave these seven suggestions.
1. Don’t use tray feeders or feeders with platforms that allow grackles to land.
2. Make your feeders unappealing by shortening or removing perches.
3. Use dedicated finch feeders that dispense thistle (nyjer) seed.
4. Reduce the amount of seed that birds throw out by offering black-oil sunflower or hulled sunflower seed.
5. Give safflower a try.
6. Protect your suet.
7. When all else fails, adjust your attitude. After all, Common Grackles are native to North America, their plumage is iridescent and, as you can see at left, often beautiful, and they’re actually pretty interesting. For starters, they have dramatic communicative displays. Also, remember that they eat a wide variety of foods. About 30 percent of their diet is insects, including grubs that are troublesome for your lawn, and beetles and caterpillars that destroy your plants.
And if that doesn’t make you feel better, take comfort in the fact that time is on your side: If your yard is a grackle-migration stopover, just wait. The big bullies will be gone in a few weeks.
I tried some of these suggestions and some have worked a little but no great success yet. If you have any ideas please let me know and I’ll pass the information along to all our friends in the neighborhood. Thanks for listening.
