What's a bird to do when the weather turns cool and fall
foliage begins to drop? For many species of birds, the answer is to migrate
south for the winter!
I was at work one cool, gray morning when I heard a harsh
chirping outside the window. I saw a few
dozen black birds hopping around and foraging in the grass under the oak trees
outside the office. Moments later, that
number doubled! At first glance, they
looked like a species similar to the Brewer's blackbird (which I later
discovered does not reach N.Y.). Some
Internet research led me to discover they are common grackles.
The Grackle
This bird, a member of the same family as the blackbird, has
a shiny green or purple head and yellow eyes.
As I discovered by watching out my window, grackles eat just about
anything – many of them were foraging for acorns and sifting through fallen
pine needles for whatever they could find.
Grackles can be found just about anywhere in the U.S., with the
exception of the west coast. They are
noisy chatterers and tend to travel in large groups. Colonies of grackles may
contain as many as 10 to 100 pairs.
Migration
These noisy birds are considered pests for more reasons than
their considerable volume. Grackles eat
just about anything, but love grains and seeds – especially corn. The large colony size can put a considerable
dent in a crop in a small amount of time. They are also aggressive toward other
birds.
While some grackles do not migrate, others spend warm
winters in the southeastern U.S.
Protected Pests?
Grackles are not a protected species, but they are in
decline. In the past 40 years, their numbers have decreased by 61%. There are
about 73 million grackles throughout the world today compared to 190 million 40
years ago. That's a lot of grackles!
Many bird watchers try to deter grackles from their feeders
because they bully other more desired birds away. Some tips for keeping grackles away from
feeders include:
- Don't give them a landing
space/perch
- Feed thistle seed or
sunflower hearts
- Don't feed suet
Why might we want to keep an eye on the grackle
population? Despite the fact that they
eat everything in sight and bother other birds, grackles have a few positive
points. Mainly, they eat lots of insects including grubs, ants, beetles, and
caterpillars. Think of it as free and
green lawn protection! In most cases,
grackles are just pests that are passing through for a few days.
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Grackle
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Grackle/id
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/BOW/comgra/
http://www.audubon.org/bird/stateofthebirds/cbid/profile.php?id=14
http://www.birdersworld.com/brd/default.aspx?c=a&id=1133
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxxsvLQ2Kos
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=blackbird+migration&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B2GGGL_enUS176US344&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=3-fJSojSJsO2lAfj3aWSAw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4#
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