They showed up last week. Five of them. Grackles. Damned grackles. This morning there were a dozen in my yard, in another week there will be fifty. I despise grackles. They bully my songbirds and eat all the food I put out. If there were only a dozen, I could handle that. But they are like the Hordes of Mongolia. They just keep coming and coming and coming.
Most of my other birder friends don’t have this problem. The grackles pass them by.
I think my problem is that I have lots of birds in my yard and birds attract birds – even those of other species. Birds are curious and are forever seeking food, shelter and water sources and all three are available in my yard.
Right now, there are only male grackles. They arrive early in flocks, seeking out food and nesting sites. Then the females arrive and the grackles begin fighting and pairing off. By May, they will be nesting and in June, they vanish. But for about four months, I have to put up with these black pests. Where are the hawks when you need them?