Thursday, May 27, 2010

Too many grackles

I was outside just now, handpicking those sophora worms off the little mountain laurel (I nabbed about eight and relocated them far away). Around me, I could hear lots of common grackles, cackling in the live oaks. I've really begun to worry about them staying. Usually, they show up when the tent caterpillars start becoming a nuisance in February. The grackles arrive, eat the worms, then disappear. This year, we hardly had any caterpillars. They showed up any way, and they won't leave! They splash out the water in our bird baths and shove away the other birds at our feeder. I'm going to contact some biologists and ask their opinions. I keep thinking about the hordes of grackles that live in San Antonio and San Marcos. I'd HATE to think of them getting out of control like that here in our neighborhood.

2 comments:

Mama Rachael said...

I've heard it said that grackles are protected, so you can't just shoot them. That's why they are so out of control. Here, in a local intersection, in the evenings as the sun is going down, there are 1000s of these birds filling every space: power lines, grass, trees, parked cars. Its scary!

Sheryl Smith-Rodgers said...

I've read that too! That's why I'd like to get input from biologists etc. so that doesn't happen here!

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