Day Of The Grackle - Nevermore

The Grackle

 

Quoth the birder to the Grackle "Nevermore."

Once upon a morning sunshine, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious ways to feed my song birds —
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came bird droppings,
As of some one gently dripping from above, digested worms and bugs.
"'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "chasing off my song birds —
            Only this and nothing more." 

Quoth the birder to the Grackle "Nevermore." (1)

Common Grackles

We left much of our yard wares behind when we moved to Fort Collins, including our prized squirrel-proof bird feeder pole fitted with a raccoon baffle to keep the Eastern Gray Squirrels at bay. A week ago we installed a new pole in our Colorado backyard, fitted with a smaller squirrel baffle (the one that didn't work in Maryland), assured by the local Wild Birds Unlimited shop that the Red Squirrels here are not as nimble as their eastern cousins and should not be a problem.

Squirrel/Grackle-proof bird feeder

What we found out fairly quickly was that Common Grackle are the Great Plains pest when it comes to unprotected bird feeders - not only do they still overcome the squirrel-proof mechanism of our Squirrel Buster birder feeder. So today, we headed off to the bird store and invested in a new feeder with a fitted squirrel-proof cage, not to thwart local squirrels who haven't paid any attention to our feeder, but to save the seed and feeding positions for the song birds who have been spooked by their larger black-feathered companions.

American Robin droppings

The only other notable observation as we begin our birding efforts in Colorado, is when you have a tree over your patio, it is necessary to cover furniture, tables, and yourself when enjoying the outdoors between thunder storms. American Robins do a wonderful job of singing high in the tree, and must be reading the newspaper while waiting for nature to run its course. Table or patio umbrellas are fine for protection, but it is important not to delay setting them up when taking in the morning sunshine.

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(1) Adopted from Edgar Allan Poe's, The Raven.

Can't Be - Tricolored Blackbirds in Maryland

Red-winged or putative
Tricolored Blackbird
and Common Grackle
(foreground)

This morning there was a rush of activity with Common Grackle at the bird feeder. It was one of those sightings where it looked like seven or eight were going to rush the place. Last year, the grackles didn't seem to be able to adjust to the new feeder - they couldn't figure out how to perch on the small footings. This morning they showed themselves to be quite adept, and at least three at a time were feeding. While all of the jet-black darts were attaching themselves to the feeder, or gleaning below on the ground, all of a sudden a white-streaked wing fell in among those on the ground - and then another, and another. While catching some pictures, I noticed a faint red streak above the white - Tricolored Blackbird I thought, until I looked in my National Geographic bird guide. These are only supposed to be found in the far west of North America - not here where only the ubiquitous Red-winged blackbirds are found that range across the continent, or perhaps a variant with a more-white-than-yellow is in my yard. We have had Brewer's Blackbirds in the yard, but these were the first other blackbird species I had seen here - other than a Red-winged I once saw near an estuary toward the Chesapeake Bay off of Route 50. Regardless of the species, it is worth the time to learn more about the Tricolor Blackbird - a declining species. Much of the natural wetland habitat in the San Joaquin River Valley is gone, replaced by irrigated agriculture.