GRACKLES, GOOFY BIRDS

[OLDNAVYMCPO]

We have a pair, male and female, Great-tailed Grackles that are residents at our house.

They are supposed to eat grains, berries and insects. Not ours, they won't touch the bird feed we put out. Instead, when we water the lawn or on rare occasions when it rains, they dig for worms or grubs.

They are really awkward birds, but the female is particularly goofy. They stagger instead of walking.

They really intimidate the other birds especially at the bird bath. The male shows up to bathe every day. He takes a really long bath. No other bird will bathe or drink during his bath. The female drinks but never bathes.

The female is in the first two photos, the much more decorative male is in the next three photos.

 

[swsig]

You're lucky you only have two. During the Fall migration season, our town is inundated with hundreds of thousands of them. We become Bird Poop City. It's great for the car wash businesses, though.

 

[DeathGrip]

They're smart birds. I see them at the Turnpike toll booth. If you come to a stop they'll clean the bugs off of your grill.

 

[Andy Lowry]

The Arizona Valley (Phoenix, Mesa, etc.) is packed with them. In the yards with grass, irrigation day makes for a huge grackle convention. It gets noisy.

 

[sophie]

We have lots of Grackles around here in our area and sometimes they are amusing doing their wing spread mating ritual.
When I think of Grackles I can't help but think of the movie Steel Magnolias with Tom Skerritt as Julia Roberts's dad and they are getting ready for the outdoor wedding and Tom was out in the front under the trees with his suit or tuxcedo on and had a shotgun and was shooting up in the trees at the grackles while everybody else was fit to be tied.

 

[kthom]

This is my personal opinion (and consider this ... I am a bird lover). I detest grackles, and for several reasons. There are untold numbers of them here where we live now and where we came from in eastern NM. They are nasty. Several business here have removed trees (which is almost never done in this part of the world) because no one can park underneath those trees without collecting a huge amount of bird stuff. They are noisy, with no pleasing qualities of voice. They will light on your parked car that is not underneath a tree and leave their calling cards. The parking lots are all full of grackles searching for something to eat. They park themselves on your vehicle to get a higher vantage point for their search. My biggest complaint is that Grackles will roll the eggs from a songbird's nest to the ground, deposit one of their own, whereafter the grackles go happily on their way and leave the egg to be hatched and fed and raised by the songbirds. That ain't right!!! And worst of all, they fall into the category of migratory birds so they are protected! But they don't migrate from this part of the world. We have them year round, maybe more or less, but it is hard to describe the numbers of them that are present.

I see no useful purpose for them. They have no redeeming qualities as far as I am concerned. I like cockroaches about as well as I like grackles! Sorry if this offends anyone, but there it is. And there is absolutely no danger of them ever becoming extinct, even if they were removed from the protected list. So, like some other things in life, there isn't much choice but to live with them. I guess this qualifies as a rant ... sorry I didn't give warning!

 

[LVSteve]

My biggest complaint is that Grackles will roll the eggs from a songbird's nest to the ground, deposit one of their own, whereafter the grackles go happily on their way and leave the egg to be hatched and fed and raised by the songbirds. That ain't right!!!

Are you sure you're not thinking of the Cowbird? They look like a small grackle. I cannot find any reference to grackles doing this on the usual bird sites. Bronzed Cowbird Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Brown-headed Cowbird Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

What grackles WILL do is steal the young of smaller birds from the nest. They are quite predatory. I've seen them bring tree lizards to the bird bath in an attempt to soften them, I think. It's pretty funny to watch the frustration build. No matter how many times he dunks that lizard, it's still rubbery.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

This is my personal opinion (and consider this ... I am a bird lover). I detest grackles, and for several reasons. There are untold numbers of them here where we live now and where we came from in eastern NM. They are nasty. Several business here have removed trees (which is almost never done in this part of the world) because no one can park underneath those trees without collecting a huge amount of bird stuff. They are noisy, with no pleasing qualities of voice. They will light on your parked car that is not underneath a tree and leave their calling cards. The parking lots are all full of grackles searching for something to eat. They park themselves on your vehicle to get a higher vantage point for their search. My biggest complaint is that Grackles will roll the eggs from a songbird's nest to the ground, deposit one of their own, whereafter the grackles go happily on their way and leave the egg to be hatched and fed and raised by the songbirds. That ain't right!!! And worst of all, they fall into the category of migratory birds so they are protected! But they don't migrate from this part of the world. We have them year round, maybe more or less, but it is hard to describe the numbers of them that are present.

I see no useful purpose for them. They have no redeeming qualities as far as I am concerned. I like cockroaches about as well as I like grackles! Sorry if this offends anyone, but there it is. And there is absolutely no danger of them ever becoming extinct, even if they were removed from the protected list. So, like some other things in life, there isn't much choice but to live with them. I guess this qualifies as a rant ... sorry I didn't give warning!

What he said, they are kinda like sparrows, don't like em, never will.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[DWalt]

There are locations around me where grackles will flock in trees nearly every evening - thousands of them. They make quite a racket. Last week I was at the Wal-Mart store in Del Rio. Someone had left a McDonald's paper bag with some food in it in a shopping basket in the parking lot next to my truck. There were at least a dozen grackles in the basket ripping that bag apart to get at whatever was inside. The urban grackles are not the least bit afraid of humans, you can easily get within a few feet of them. I have also seen grackles in parking lots eating squashed bugs off car grilles. I neither like nor dislike them. They do have a bit of a personality.

 

[armorer951]

The female drinks but never bathes.

Sounds like a few of my more memorable service contacts when I worked as a Crime Scene Tech. These "birds" are hard to forget!

 

[kthom]

I have seen, on several occasions, songbird eggs on the ground underneath trees in my yard and others. I have many times seen that nest continue to be tended by the songbirds and at some point, I see a juvenile grackle on the ground in my yard, not yet able to fly, and upon approaching it, I get almost attacked by a half dozen or more grackles attempting to make me move away from it. Left alone, the juvenile will be seen occasionally for a couple of days while it hunkers on the ground underneath bushes and plants, after which it will disappear. I assume it flys away at some point. Just prior to the time when the juvenile grackle leaves the nest, several grackles hold court in the tree, and get very upset when any one or any animal walks close to that tree. Talk about racket! And if you've never seen one, a juvenile grackle is one of the ugliest birds or animals I have ever seen.

I don't know what the books say about grackles. I do know about cowbirds, which do the same thing as I have described here. They keep an eye on the nest and the hatchling until it leaves the nest. Maybe they even feed the juvenile at that point. Don't know for sure that they don't, but generally after the grackle egg hatches, the song birds are no longer seen much at all in the vicinity of the nest. I have climbed to a lower built nest on two occasions and seen a single grackle egg in the nest after finding songbird eggs busted on the ground. I'm just putting two and two together here to arrive at my opinion. Even if this business does not occur, I still have zero use for the grackles. They are pests with a capital "P"! I've been around them for a long time, and the only thing that amazes me about them is the incredibly huge numbers of them that are now present in my world. They are survivors for certain, and seem not to be hampered much by the weather or by other factors. Their numbers are increasing. I guess since they have found parking lots around Wal Marts and fast food places, they have plenty eat year round!

 

[armorer951]

When I was a boy, one of the neighbor ladies down the road paid me 10 cents apiece for them. I still have the Marlin 39a used to dispatch those nasty pests. (I never told her, but I would have shot them for free)

 

[LVSteve]

I have seen, on several occasions, songbird eggs on the ground underneath trees in my yard and others. I have many times seen that nest continue to be tended by the songbirds and at some point, I see a juvenile grackle on the ground in my yard, not yet able to fly, and upon approaching it, I get almost attacked by a half dozen or more grackles attempting to make me move away from it. Left alone, the juvenile will be seen occasionally for a couple of days while it hunkers on the ground underneath bushes and plants, after which it will disappear. I assume it flys away at some point. Just prior to the time when the juvenile grackle leaves the nest, several grackles hold court in the tree, and get very upset when any one or any animal walks close to that tree. Talk about racket! And if you've never seen one, a juvenile grackle is one of the ugliest birds or animals I have ever seen.

I don't know what the books say about grackles. I do know about cowbirds, which do the same thing as I have described here. They keep an eye on the nest and the hatchling until it leaves the nest. Maybe they even feed the juvenile at that point. Don't know for sure that they don't, but generally after the grackle egg hatches, the song birds are no longer seen much at all in the vicinity of the nest. I have climbed to a lower built nest on two occasions and seen a single grackle egg in the nest after finding songbird eggs busted on the ground. I'm just putting two and two together here to arrive at my opinion. Even if this business does not occur, I still have zero use for the grackles. They are pests with a capital "P"! I've been around them for a long time, and the only thing that amazes me about them is the incredibly huge numbers of them that are now present in my world. They are survivors for certain, and seem not to be hampered much by the weather or by other factors. Their numbers are increasing. I guess since they have found parking lots around Wal Marts and fast food places, they have plenty eat year round!

You need to contact your local Audubon gang. You may be the first to record this behavior and it needs more study. Neat.


Myself, I have seen lizard behavior that I've never seen described in books, namely stealing food from hunting wasps. Some folk are only convinced when I show them the photo sequence.

 

[DWalt]

About all I can say about Grackles is what's in the Wikipedia article. It describes their nesting and egg-laying habits, but makes no reference to their laying eggs in the nests of other bird species as cowbirds do. It also mentions that the Grackle population is in decline.

My first experience with Grackles was when I was working in Brownsville TX (far South Texas on the Rio Grande) around 1989. They were everywhere there and couldn't be ignored. Prior to that, I was living in Midland TX (West Texas) and I really don't remember their being any in Midland at that time. But there were lots of Roadrunners. Very entertaining birds.

 

[husker51]

I first learned of grackles when in college station, TX. Darn things are noisey. They appear to be especially fond of McDonalds. Since then, I have seen some in Nebraska. Never noticed any before 2010.

 

[Stevens]

I had never seen them till our company did some work in south Texas years ago. We all remarked how noisy they were. Now they have moved
into south Louisiana as well, not so many but enough to make a racket an mess. They hang around parking lots where idiots toss bags of left over fast food.
They are called Zanate in Spanish.
Steve W

 

[Bill Bates]

Grackles are a new addition to our local bird population in Utah. We started to see them here 12 or15 years ago. They seem to have filled a niche held by Magpies. Which now you only see in the hills and fields.

The Grackles seem to love hanging out in shopping center parking lots, especially WalMarts. So much so, the wife and I refer to them as Walmart birds. I have other people refer to them as the parking lot birds.

I like their voices and they are fun to watch. I think they like parking lots because you see them all the time jumping up and picking bugs of the car bumpers.

 

[DWalt]

Grackles must have either asbestos feet or high pain thresholds. They walk around on the hot parking lot pavement all day and it doesn't seem to bother them.

 

[GaryS]

Your description reminds me of homeless people. Except for the panhandling.

They are annoyingly loud. The first time I heard them, I wondered what the heck was making obnoxious sound.

This is my personal opinion (and consider this ... I am a bird lover). I detest grackles, and for several reasons. There are untold numbers of them here where we live now and where we came from in eastern NM. They are nasty. Several business here have removed trees (which is almost never done in this part of the world) because no one can park underneath those trees without collecting a huge amount of bird stuff. They are noisy, with no pleasing qualities of voice. They will light on your parked car that is not underneath a tree and leave their calling cards. The parking lots are all full of grackles searching for something to eat. They park themselves on your vehicle to get a higher vantage point for their search. My biggest complaint is that Grackles will roll the eggs from a songbird's nest to the ground, deposit one of their own, whereafter the grackles go happily on their way and leave the egg to be hatched and fed and raised by the songbirds. That ain't right!!! And worst of all, they fall into the category of migratory birds so they are protected! But they don't migrate from this part of the world. We have them year round, maybe more or less, but it is hard to describe the numbers of them that are present.

I see no useful purpose for them. They have no redeeming qualities as far as I am concerned. I like cockroaches about as well as I like grackles! Sorry if this offends anyone, but there it is. And there is absolutely no danger of them ever becoming extinct, even if they were removed from the protected list. So, like some other things in life, there isn't much choice but to live with them. I guess this qualifies as a rant ... sorry I didn't give warning!

 

[shouldazagged]

Many years ago my late wife and I went to Jekyll Island, Georgia, for a few days. The grackles there were huge compared to our Kentucky birds.

They were aggressive, too. One day I was fishing of a little dock, using shrimp for bait. I hadn't been there long when I heard the flutter of wings--lots of them. These enormous buggers flew in from every direction and perched on a rail around the dock. They were watching me intently, and the whole thing was getting to feel very Hitchcockian.

They were after the shrimp. One would swoop in to steal one, and while I was shooing him away two others would strike from behind me. It clearly was a routine they had practiced very well.

They were beautiful, unlike starlings, but they were a criminal syndicate. I had the feeling that if I had run out of shrimp they would have tried for my watch and wallet.