1:12 AM – We had a minor invasion of Common Grackles Sunday, our first. They are distinguished from Crows by their yellow eye (on adults) and iridescent feathers with highlights of green, blue, brown (and probably more) in the black. The slightly smaller, brownish birds mixed in with them are immature Grackles. There were a lot of them all over the yard, on all of the feeders and water supplies, on the ground. It’s hard to estimate, but I’d say more than a few dozen and less that a hundred. Needless to say, there were none of the regulars feeding at the same time.
The Grackles were big, noisy, quarrelsome birds. Notice the Mourning Dove at the end of the clip, scooting onto the feeder was soon as the Grackles left.
These are attractive birds, with the shiny feathers. The big yellow eye is disturbing, though.
They got to all of the feeders, including the suet cage. They really tore piece out of the suet cylinder. I have no doubt they would have demolished it if they hadn’t been scared off.
After they’d been here about 15 minutes I went out and ran them off. Unless we want an “all Grackle – all the time” foodcourt, we have to move them on to some other lucky back yard. They came back about ten minutes later. I ran them off again, and five minute later they were back again. This time I sat on the deck with a camera for about twenty minutes. They flew through the yard a few times, and finally disappeared. Visits from Grackles are very much a “Glad you’re here, when are you leaving” kind of experience.