All About Grackles!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มิ.ย. 2024
- It's not hard to find grackles. They often hang out in large flocks, sometimes mixed with other blackbirds or starlings. They're noisy, gregarious and have entertaining displays.
First, let's look at how to identify these birds, as there's a few variations to know about. You can find grackles in north, central and south America. In North America, there are 3 types: the common, great-tailed, and boat-tailed.
Of the common grackle, there are three subspecies: the bronzed grackle, which is the dominant color pattern in its range, the Florida grackle in the southeast, and the purple grackle along the east coast.
Chapters:
Introduction 00:00
Common grackle subspecies 00:25
Male, female or juvenile? 00:50
Common grackle appearance 01:21
Great-tailed and Boat-tailed ranges 01:42
Boat-tailed and common grackle ranges 02:11
Vocalizations 02:38
Special adaptation for acorns 03:54
Opportunistic feeders 04:34
Of grain and fruit 04:56
Bird feeder bossiness 05:34
Conclusion 05:50
All Things Birdie Merchandise
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Social Media:
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Photos and videos graciously utilized from free use sites, name and site credited in video.
Canva.com
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Flickr.com
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Pexels.com
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Videvo.net
Wikipedia Creative Commons License
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Credits not given in video:
3 Types of Grackle
- Common grackle by Rejean Bedard from Canva.com
-Great-tailed grackle by neil bowman from Canva.com
- Boat-tailed grackle by 6381380 from Canva.com
Common grackle subspecies
-Bronzed grackle by impr2003 from Canva.com
-Florida grackle by dossyl from Canva.com
-Purple grackle by outtakes from Canva.com
Range maps by Cephas from Wikipedia.com
Great-tailed versus Boat-tailed comparison
-Great-tailed by epantha from Canva.com
-Boat-tailed by BirdImages from Canva.com
Vocalizations:
-Common grackle by Jonathon Jongsma, XC131091. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/131091.
-Great-tailed grackle by Niels Krabbe, XC243018. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/243018. Clip shortened.
Closing video by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren from Flickr.com
Thumbnail credits:
-Common grackle by Tim Stackton from Flickr.com
-Great-tailed grackle by Nancy Strohm from Canva.com
-Boat-tailed grackle by jstewartphoto from Canva.com
I took an animal behavior class and my teacher had a PHD in Ornithology. I learned all grackles do a head display to show dominance/submissiveness. When they meet up, they all hold their heads up and the longer they keep their head up, the higher ranking they have. Once I learned this, I always watched the common grackles in my area and sure enough, they always do this!
Thank you for sharing that!
they are such a riot when they're doing this
I KNEW that's what it was, it looks so silly
I’ve seen them do this while making their calls, and I had no idea why
Growing up I always wondered why they did that!! I’d see them gather in a circle under a tree, thought it was very bizarre lol. Now I know!
"The Kroger parking lot in Mansfield Texas in October, You know that's the spot." - 5 billion grackles
They like peanuts 😊
I remember a thick flock of them flying north during the spring, except it didn't stop for days. 5 billion isn't an exaggeration.
Nice to know, that's right next door. In Cedar Hill, TX there is a Starbucks where they gather in the morning. I intentionally go to that one because I love seeing and listening to them.
Yeah, they have a thing for Kroger and HEB parking lots, not sure why though. Sure, grocery stores have food, but do the Grackles know that? Maybe they follow the produce trucks?!
@@non-influential I believe it, 5 billion is just about right to divide up and cover all the grocery stores in Texas!
Love grackles! I call these the “Walmart parking lot, French-fry eating birds”
I’ve always called them “Walmart birds” too. lol
Wow, I thought only my local Walmart had Grackels.
@@MrDDiRussosame 😂
Good naming 😂
My wife and I call them "French fry birds" and yes, most commonly seen in Walmart parking lots here in Oklahoma, lol.
I absolutely love grackles and their sounds and watching them roam around parking lots like iridescent dinosaurs and knowing they do millions of dollars worth of damage makes me smile
If grackles dominating feeders is a problem for you, I find that having multiple feeders has worked for me. I fill one with about 80% cracked corn/20% sunflower seeds - this is for the grackles and the starlings. Then I fill another, smaller feeder with 50% black oil sunflower, 40% finch blend (millet and other tiny seeds), and 10% safflower. The grackles go for the corn and any sunflower seeds that end up on the ground, and the starlings ignore the seeds because their beaks aren't really made to shell them. As a bonus, if you buy your cracked corn from a feed mill or farm supply store in 50lb bags, it's way cheaper than if you buy the little bags sold for birds. ;) So I get to enjoy watching grackles without them hassling any of the little songbirds or spilling seeds they don't even want to eat.
Thank you for explaining that!
I’m absolutely going to try this. I love my grackles, but they do dominate. Thanks so much for suggesting this. Makes perfect sense.
I love grackles. They’re silly and entertaining.
We feed all kinds of birds here in upstate NY. In late Spring or early summer, the Grackle hatchlings stand on small piles of freeze-dried mealworms as they scream for adults to feed them. The adults feed them at first, then ignore them after which the young ones turn into police car sirens. Amazing. After bugs fully come out, we withdraw the mealworms. The young need to learn to forage.
In the summer, the insects from the gutters get pretty uncontrollable. They eat the cockroaches in my neighborhood, so I love them for that. Also their sounds are incredible!
A few years ago I bonded with a murder of crows and since then I’ve been obsessed with birds. About a year or so ago I found an abandoned chick that I thought/hoped was a crow but it was a grackle. I raised her until her feathers grew and she was able to forage live insects. She was so good, she learned to fly to me with a snap, or she could walk by my side in the house 😅I felt she needed a natural life so I released her ❤ miss you, Midnight ❤
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Wtf?! You released her into the wild while knowing full well that she didn’t have a flock to stay with for protection?!? And without knowing if she had the skills to forage for anything more than insects for food - insects do not consist of many calories (not to mention, without a flock to have taught her what insects are poisonous, as well as what other animals and plants to avoid because of lethality, she’d have no idea!).
Be honest: You just got tired of the responsibility you took on, and didn’t want to make the long-term commitment to care for a bird raised in captivity by a human. There’s no way that bird survived for long because it wasn’t raised by a flock or released with a flock.
You should have brought that abandoned chick to a wildlife rescue organization, as _THEY_ know what they’re doing. _YOU_ did not!
@@anti-ethniccleansing465 this is fair. Like I said this was years ago, I’m much more informed now than I was but this is a lil much. For one, I was completely committed to keeping that bird, it’s just that my housing situation and work schedule made it difficult to provide all of her needs. Secondly, yes I should have taken her to a rehabilitation center, but I did a lot of research on the species and its ecology as it relates to my areas population, I had taken her outside in that location multiple times to acclimate her to the area. And yes, I’m not an expert, but in comparison to the average Joe I might as well be. I have a relationship with multiple flocks of birds in my area, and I watch them, interact with them, and honestly prefer them to most of the people I know. So really my only error was that I should’ve called a shelter for her.
@@anti-ethniccleansing465 exactally my thoughts as well, how irrisponceible. If you find a baby bird, call a wildlife rehab or rescue center.
I like to catcall the grackles with the most magnificent tails in the parking lots in Houston 😂 Sometimes grackles are huge and it’s really something to see a big glossy one strutting around looking majestic! 🎉
I raise two half-dead baby grackles back in 2018. I had them for 30 days, taught them to hunt for food, fly, bathe, and seek shelter. When they flew away one day, I was so lonely . I hope they are in a flock, raising babies and happy!
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I used to live in Texas, where the great-tailed grackles are EVERYwhere. They are actually crazy smart. Once I saw one (a female) go up to a dog food dish, pick up a pellet of dog food that was too big to get in its mouth, drop it in the dog's water, wait a few moments, then pick it up out of the water when it was soggy enough and swallow it down. It seems like it has to be able to learn from experience and generalize that to new situations in a problem-solving setting. That comes in handy since in the bird book under "diet" it says: "Almost anything edible"!
I used to live in TX too, and looooved the grackles! The number of them in the Dallas area was insane. One of my favorite birds.
That's so interesting! Birds in general are a lot smarter than we tend to expect. The neurons in their brains are packed twice as densely as ours, it's really quite amazing. I've been really happy getting to know the common grackles around us, and find them surprisingly friendly, despite their well-earned tough reputation.
The common grackles up here in PA are pretty clever, I put out shelled peanuts occasionally and this one grackle always drops them in the birdbath to soften up.
The other grackles and jays grab a peanut and fly away at full speed, but that one bird is obsessed with softening up it's food.
I saw a male common grackle in a creek bed with a ray of sunshine illuminating it through the trees, and it was one of the most beautiful birds I've ever seen in person!
That blue head just blew me away!
I had the same experience couple of years ago in my neighborhood park’s creek bed. The blue head took me by surprise. I came home and looked them up.
The royal purple wings/tail with teal heads on the east coast ones are also spectacular, such a variety of patterns too! They're like flying gemstones.
Great-tailed Grackles are one of my most favorite birds! Their resourcefulness, ability to thrive in urban environments, and robust personality won me over years ago. It's a wonder to me that people can ignore them despite being surrounded by them and their charming shenanigans!
i'm north texan, and even though i understand why people see grackles as pests, i just can't disagree more 🥺 watching clouds of them dance around parking lots and cover telephone wires is always my favorite part of going grocery shopping. they always look like they have such rich lives!
well they predate on all other birds, they are awful.
I never saw grackles before I moved to North Texas several years ago. They're one of my favorite birds now.
I’m in south Texas, we have tons of them, as well. I love the sounds they make, and the way the sun lights up their colorful feathers. Seeing the posturing is also amusing. I didn’t realize they were considered pests, but now I think I know what happened to my tomatoes.
same here 😊
@@Uncle_Neil many birds do this, it's a normal part of the ecosystem. That's how they live and our opinion on it doesn't matter.
Grackles show up at my feeders every once in a while. It's interesting to see them somewhere other than a Walmart parking lot lol. 😂
When I moved to Texas, I didn't know what they were. I just thought of them as grocery store parking lot scavengers.
Grackles make me think of the prehistoric raptors that all birds evolved from, just smaller and with a beak without teeth
Naw, not the "prehistoric raptors evolving" nonsense, good grief 🙄
@susanjaeger9851 Birds *are* dinosaurs, Susan.
Ive got 3 nestlings in my rescue and they are very much like little dinosaur hatchlings! Im not spamming because this is educational so visit my channel to watch the babies grow into adult grackles. I love the information!
Dinosaurs aren't even real. All that masonic b.s.
I thought I was the only one? I think it’s their long tails, long snouts, and long legs
I did not realize when I moved from my native Texas 7 years ago that I was going to miss the great-tailed grackles and all their noise...
This feels like a middle school educational video the teacher would show to explain something in detail, in the best possible way. No idea how I got lucky enough to stumble upon your channel, but thank you so much! I love how this video is done!
Moved to Florida and noticed the beautiful boat tailed grackles are everywhere.I feed them at lunch in the publix parking lot and will have 50-60 of them all around me.
I used to watch them when stuck on greeting duty as a lifeguard at the Venetian Hotel. I liked watching them socialize more than the pool attendants
I didn't know much about these incredible birds until I went on a trip to Florida. I was instantly captivated by their cheekiness and guile. They are also just so gorgeous.
Great-taule grackles were my favorite bird growing up. I now live in an area without them, but the common grackle is still a very cool and cute bird
We get Boat Tailed Grackles from late May until about August here in south central Wisconsin, in my sleepy town. Over the years I have befriended a few and look forward to their visit every summer. It took years of trial and error with me just trying to copy their calls. I think they find it funny and we spend a lot of time going back and forth while I try to sound as cool as them!
they are such beautiful birds, needless to say. i love the crazed look in their pale eyes, the proud struts with their heads held high, when they go "CHUK!" (and if i had one for a pet, id name him Chuck for that reason) i can keep listing reasons why i find them charming birds. dont want them to bully my smaller birdies away from my yard though, chickadees gotta eat too. when i have one near i always say "Hey, Grackle!", in the small chance they learn that they are called 'grackle', its such an endearing name for an endearing bird.
Where I live, grackles (mostly bronze and great-tailed) congregate in parking lots, looking for things people dropped. It's hilarious. I love those guys.
I used to live along the east coast where we had boat tailed grackles on all the beaches, and now live in an area with lots of common grackles that congregate in a specific tree outside my work. Both subspecies are so beautiful and derpy. I live the common’s “rusty gate” call lol.
For 3 years, I've been trying to "make friends" with crows in the area. So far, I've attracted squirrels and, just recently, a grackle. At least I have the right color and species, now!! 😂
I live in the north east. I absolutely love grackles to me they are fun to watch at feeders. 🤗✌️😇🙏
Ive got grackles that hang out where I work. I often end up giving them bits of my lunch when im on break.
this was super interesting! I’m from Puerto Rico, where we call Greater Antillean Grackles “Changos”. The word Chango means ‘whiny’, or ‘needy’ in reference to how they always seem to be complaining about something with their noises. They’re really funny to watch lmao.
Grackles are the Hell’s Angels of the bird world, and I dread mid March when they come roaring back to town.
When they show up in the hundreds of thousands, they generate a headache inducing racket (and endless amounts of droppings under their roosts).
In my area (Kansas) they are especially obnoxious pests that congregate around parking lots to pick bugs from vehicles (and steal unguarded groceries in the back of pickup trucks).
They are entertaining and beautiful birds, but not when they’re in such high numbers.
Nuisance can be entertainment
That’s most animals…including humans if you’re a misanthrope 😂
@@BrinIoca I can recognize the nuisance of too many humans without going full-misanthrope.
I lived in KS for a while and the grackles were a problem there. They outnumbered other species and would get together in large numbers to squawk loudly from the trees outside the house. I don’t see many where I live now and figure fewer is a good thing when it comes to grackles.
@@robertjones8598 they tend to roost in the trees in the parking lot around Walmart, and it’s absolute mayhem. There are hundreds of thousands of them, and the racket (and the poop, and the smell) is unbelievable. Everything under the trees is coated with guano, and vehicles quickly get whitewashed with grackle droppings. They yell all night long and fly around constantly, so it’s headache inducing for everyone that works there.
I've been calling them "walmart wallows" (walmart swallows didnt have the same silly ring to it as walmart wallows) for years now because I had no idea what they were lol. Love these guys, I keep a bag of expired unsalted trail mix in my car to toss to them when I see them. They are such characters!
I now have many grackles coming to my country property here in central Ontario, Canada. Where they nest and keep me poor filling the bird feeder every day.
I built a large platform type feeder attached to the kitchen window with a two way mirror. This feeder is large enough (4ft X 3ft) that I still get all of my usual birds from small chick a Dees to blue jays, Cardinals, Doves, etc . all eating together with the Grackles and everyone is happy. ALL animals need our love.
Thanks for the video.
Ron S
Our grackles in AZ can do a perfect mimicry for the old Space Invaders game as part of their repertoire. I’ve loved them since a mama and her baby began visiting the fountain we run in summer to provide birds with a safe spot to cool off. Mama would dip her head into the stream then pass it on to baby just like when feeding. It was so sweet ❤️
I like Grackles. I find them to be very smart and curious birds. Every winter I look forward to hearing the noisy flocks of Common Grackles begin to return here in CT, marking spring is right around the corner.
I love grackles! Such misunderstood beautiful guys.
Changos with their yellow eyes, and screeching, fighting for food with the pigeons. Very clever and skilled..
My Mom raised a common Grackle that had fallen or was taken out of the nest and left on the road. They were even featured on “ BoomTown” critter corner ‘s Rex Trailers TV Show …sponsored by the MSPCA to help educate. They are wonderful creatures and I fondly remember our little Blackie when I see them …
Detailed, objective, and informative; but straight to the point, and no fluff. Love how the information is structured... my ADD brain likey.
We have lots of great-tailed grackles where I live, and you can almost always hear them making the rusty gate sound, or the "weeee-deee-deee" song. I like them.
Great-tailed are one of the most common birds here in Phoenix. They love ficus nitida trees and get really rowdy in them at twilight. The males have such a funny call that builds up to a single high-pitched note, really entertaining to watch.
I’m in Phoenix too, but don’t get to see them often around my neighborhood. 😢 (central Phoenix) But sometimes a small group of them will hang out in the tree next door and I love going out to watch them. When I lived in Dallas, there were THOUSANDS of them. 😃
Last year, As I starting feed birds in general,
I never saw one.
But this Spring, they come by and yes.
They are bullies. But I do find them fascinating in how they act.
Especially when strut / walking with their beeks pointing straight upwards.
I am enjoying this look into bird Watching.
I love the sound they make! Very very different from other birds!
About a month ago I saw what my friend identified
as a boat tailed grackcle...it seemed larger and
its head and legs were black but the rest of
its body was a vibrant blue..it was remarkable.
It was chatty and I got 2 close up photos.👍
We don't have Grackles in the Pacific Northwest. I do see them when I go to Southern California though. Great video as always. I learn something every time I watch your videos.
Thank you so much! I'm happy to hear that!
I also live in the pacific NW, so I had never heard of grackles until I visited Guatemala. They were all over the place and the sounds they make are so cool.
I moved from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest and I miss grackles! I took them for granted 😭
Grew up in the PNW and had never encountered them until we moved to the upper Great Lakes and all of a sudden there were masses of them descending on our feeders and bullying the songbirds. Even our local hawks wouldn’t have anything to do with them. It genuinely feels like scenes from Hitchcock when they’re here. As pretty as they are, and as interesting as their call and antics can be, I’m not a fan. I’d rather the crows any day.
I remember them raiding the whole foods in Austin. Flying in and out of the store and snatching food from customers.
They're here in California but they're sparse and can typically be found with the red shoulder and other black birds.
I enjoy their tenacity.
I have a bird feeder & a Grackle chased away a Hawk, protecting the other birds. It was awesome. I'd never seen a smaller bird chase a Hawk.😂 The Hawk hid in a tree so it worked.
I love these birds. They can be as common as pigeons and way more brazen about taking food from you (i've had one literally dive bomb food off my plate as I was eating), but god damn are they pretty when they are healthy and are so clever. I cant help but respect them.
Grackles are cool. Here in California, we have the Great-tailed Grackle. They are indeed interesting especially their calls. We also have Brewer's Blackbirds which behave like miniature grackles. In fact many birders who move here from back east mistake the Brewer's Blackbird for the Common Grackle.
THey're a nice friendly face in every single parking lot. I enjoy feeding them watermelon and lil healthy treats when I think to have some on me. I like trying to imitate some of their sounds. The quick clicking one tends to be "Gather/food" I think. Either way. Love them.
My wife and I were on a long sight seeing trip in 2017. It took us through Texas where we first met grackles. While having lunch at a restaurant, the local birds were swarming the front of our car busily picking the bugs off of the front of the car. I should have left a compliment to the restaurant on Yelp for the free car cleaning.
The boat-tailed grackles in Florida have pretty much taken over the parking lots and gas stations. They make the sound of closing car doors. It’s amusing!
Some where in the early 2000s , i was astounded to hear a incredible racket.
A huge flock of Grackles. In the trees in our front.
They hung out for a hour or so. And flew. The only strange thing this was in Southern Oregon. i was sure by their tails.i was hoping they would stay around. But that one sighting was it.
I’ve always thought grackles are beautiful, curious and entertaining. This video further solidifies my sentiments.
I love grackles they're so funny
Love grackles! Feel like not enough people take the chance to appreciate their beauty. People seem to view them as a pest similar to pigeons, at least where I’m from.
I first encountered these birds in the Conroe-Houston, TX area a couple years ago in a mall parking lot. They reminded me of a cross between a crow and a chicken at the time as they flew and then scurried under cars, making all sorts of noises I hadn't heard before. I'm guessing I saw great-tailed ones because while I don't remember how big the tails were, I remember them being pretty distinctive. Eastern Tennessee has the common grackles, but there doesn't seem to be as many as elsewhere. We also have a few black vultures, which I also first saw en masse in Texas.
My common Grackle show up around march until July/August. And they LOVE walnuts.
💜 Love our Grackle friends!!
✨Thank You for
your video! 💕
Often wonder what they're saying to one another. Clearly they are busy communicating because they have a lot to say to each other!!! (maybe they are bird politicians!) 🤭
Pro! They are marvelous, I love the sound of 4000 grackles in a grocery store parking lot!
I love great tailed grackles so much! They are so exotic sounding, I love waking up to them in here southern Utah🌵
I agree! Their sounds are really complex and fun to listen to!
Sadly, I've not seen many grackles in the past 3 years or so. They used to be very plentiful, though they rarely dominated the feeders. Instead they'd scavenge what's dropped on the ground from other birds. The blue jays have also disappeared almost completely the last 3 years as well.
I saw and heard one small family of them just last month. I was so surprised, but then found a dead one in my front yard. That was pretty upsetting.
I live on the Mid-Atlantic coast and read that the abrupt population decline was possibly from them eating pesticide-tainted cicadas, though I live in an area where only the yearly cicadas emerge and not the cyclical ones due to the sandy soil. So I'm not sure what's going on. Not the nicest sounding birds, but they're still pretty to look at. I miss them and I hope they rebound soon and stay healthy.
Thank you for the informative video! I like grackles; they're beautiful birds with those stunning irridescent feathers. Their range of vocalizations is amazing too. They thrive because human civilization creates a wealth of opportunities for them, and they're smart enough to take advantage...so they're not much different from us... 😊
I love the sounds they make. I always say they sound straight out of a video game.
Live in Texas and they hang out in droves in grocery store parking lots looking for trash, the more industrial sight, the more of these birds. Overbred and taking over other birds nests.
We have a family group for neighbors in the summer, they're here nesting now. I put out a small dish of soaked kibble every morning and they know it's for them. Quite interesting animals! They don't figure things out easily on their own, but they can watch other birds (eg: jays) and copy solutions brilliantly.
I once saw a great tailed grackle that was leucistic, with the whole bird being a pale brown, almost white. It was a male. It didn't seem to have any difficulty interacting with the others, due to it's appearance.
I love grackles. I see them all the time in Arizona and today, I saw two makes fighting for the first time and they were brawling on the ground
Common grackles have been nesting in the dense top of my arborvitae for many years. I witnessed a squabble for nesting rites early this Spring. Though the nest is fully concealed, I know the eggs have hatched when I see adults removing white fecal sacs from the nest. There should be fledglings in a couple of weeks.
The backing track vocalists to any/all US parks, zoos, or empty lots
I feel like you missed out on some of the boat-tailed grackles iconic calls. When they're displaying to females or to other males they make some crazy sounds. Here in South Florida, boat-tailed grackles are everywhere and they're so much fun to watch due to their confident attitude in comparison to the shyer jays and doves. I love watching them strut along the parking stones like it's a runway. Great video
I have been under appreciative of grackles, thinking of them mainly as pests.
I need to pay more attention to them, watch their antics and listen for more variety in their song. Most of this info was new to me. Nice video.
We love grackles, they've got alot of "personality " and they're smart,I like to consider them to join the corvid family, (they sure act alot like them),I've watched them in the wild, they're fun and interesting,especially the males,cocky and boisterous,even menacing during mating season, I've seen them eat everything, scavengers, opportunists,I've taken a liking to them 🤓
I’m a fan! They are pretty and interesting too, I watch them from my office in Dacono, CO 💙💜🖤
I’d never heard of them! I’m in New Zealand 🇳🇿 beautiful birds!
Here in Tucson they hunt big grasshoppers in packs.
I think they are pretty cool. I've always loved the iridescent flash of color and their sassy behavior. Yes they are pushy at the feeders. But like every bird they serve a purpose in nature.
💙💚💜💙💚💜💙💚💜
I saw these for the first time at a landfill near Salt Lake City. Absolutely beautiful to see a large number of these at the same time
The grackles do a pretty good job of combing my lawn for pests and sometimes cleaning out my gutters looking for bugs and sprouted seeds. They are OK in my book. I just make sure I feed safflower in my feeders since that is not preferred by them but a lot of the other songbirds like it.
Arizona here, love their call.
FINALLY. Love these guys. Need more documentaries on city animals tbh.
i just found this channel. as a fellow bird freak (affectionate) i love you
Grackle fan here. ❤😂
I call them gangsters!!! They bough up and spread their tails in a flash of dominance. The morning doves dont care, they are also smart, they tilt my feeder and spill it out for their buddies. Gangsters.😅
they do form mobs haha
They're so pretty!! 🥰 I want my furniture to match these gothy hippies.
everyone in Texas is always like "them crows" when talking about grackles and as much as I hate to sound like a know it all...I kindly educate them of the differences lol
I have a grackle that lands on my window every hour and asks for walnuts..I named him Meanie but he's very smart and social. His run is the funniest
Tons of them on the Georgia coast. Always a bunch near the lighthouse and pier at St. Simons Island.
Yes love having around
Learned a lot about my least favorite bird. The open air restaurants around Phoenix had jelly in foil containers. Grackles would swoop down as soon as diners left the table and pierce the foil with their bills and suck out the jelly. Finally they made a hard plastic dispenser for the jelly packets.
They dominate my feeder .... but I did learn some things in this video, so thanks!
My exposure to grackles are they hang out at my local convenience store looking for any and all food scraps. I’d actually like to capture one for a pet. They seem extremely smart. Kinda like a miniature crow. I find their iridescent feathers captivating to look at.
Thanks for the video and I really do like watching these beautiful birds they are intelligent and I like when they chase the squirrels to keep them away from their nesting area
Great Tail Grackles make a barking noise that can be imitated by clicking your tongue. They'll often answer in kind if you're patient.
As well, some males in certain fast food parking lots have learned to do their mating display in exchange for a french fry.
The Great Tailed Grackles in Las Vegas are very fun to watch and their call is so distinctive. I have read that their range is expanding northward.
They look and sound funny according to my grandaughter.
My experience with great-tailed grackles in Texas was probably similar to what inspired the movie "The Birds".
Houston grackles sound so unique by comparison.. wonder if it's the car noises
Maybe. Not a grackle tale, but there is a mockingbird in my yard that imitates a car alarm. Really confused me for minute when I heard a car alarm going off in a tree.
We love the grackle!
How beautiful!!
Beautiful birds...