We had a little different crowd at the feeder today. While many Jays and Cardinals fed, we had a rare visit to the feeder by a mixed flock of grackles, Common and Great tailed. They are easy to tell apart when in a mixed flock, but difficult when using photos. The Great Tailed are near crow sized except more slender. The common are about twice the size of of Jays.
1 of 6. Great tailed.
2 of 6.
3 of 6.
4 of 6.
5 of 6. Common.
6 of 6. Incas ready for food after waiting for the grackles.
Very nice trois!!!
Thanks, pelletory.
Beautiful pics, love the iridescent colors. I've seen a few at my feeders during the summer, I'm guessing the Common because they were no where near crow sized.
Thanks.
Wow - absolute rainbows on those birds!! The "crows" we have here have no redeeming qualities - except they make awfully good parents!
Thanks, Murmur. These are pretty birds, a bit annoying at times.
Wow , those birds are gorgeous !!!!!! I love Your "bird feeder" Trois..
The "crows" we have here have no redeeming qualities - except they make awfully good parents! Murmur !! LOL I m with Ya.
Thanks, birdscrazy. DW bought the feeder at a craft show.
Thats nice that you have both types trois, we only see the Common here. I love the pics I've seen of the fancy tails on the Greats.
While they are a very pretty bird with the irredescent colors, I hate to see them show up at my feeders. They show up in flocks and can completely empty my feeders in just a few hours while it takes the other birds days or even a week to do. Very nice pictures.
Gay Lynn
pelletory, we also have the Boat tailed. They have never been to the feeder.
Gay Lynn, I really don't mind because I have to refill several times a day anyway. It only holds about 8 ounces of seeds. They rarely come to the feeders at all. Thanks for the compliment.
trois
Trois I knew I ain`t gonna get so lucky , with this nice bird feeder in any store around here ...LOL
I just love the idea, so i did put your pic in my bookmarks..
Staceysmom, maybe would be helpful , if you would put cat food in separate dish for grackles, cause they would prefer that anyhow, to any seed mix.
I never did mind grackles, we used to have great-tailed ones only , and since I was releasing some of the babies right there, I guess I had different kind of exposure ...LOL !!
They were coming for cat food , monkey chow, and kind like crows here , anything else on the menu. Knowing the watermelon already (cut in small pieces, or not )
mothers were teaching young ones the new food and some times took some poking and some other noisy persuasions on the mother part, for the young baby to try it new food.
Was so funny to watch all that , cause as mother was busy with her ways to teach about new food, the baby was looking at me in the, kind of "I have a crazy mother" and " I need help over here" way !! LOL
But baby did try some water melon and since that day it was on her menu. Of curse to witness all that from so close and without fear on grackles part was a part of the whole set up. The flock started some years before, from male released here and female coming to visit and then staying with the male. And the new born babies every year, subsequently were coming with their parents and then with their sisters and brothers and so on, you get the picture..? After such time "everybody knew everybody in the neighborhood" (in the birds term..LOL)
Some times I was joking to my husband, hey its that time of the summer, just watch for the grackles to live their babies in the yard , for me to baby sit (no kidding , with all that food around for them ...LOL !!)
Parents were never to far away, any noise would bring them back in the bit, but still, that was really special to me , I felt like I do belong to the flock.
Very interesting, birdscrazy. I get to watch a 3 ring circus every day on the security camera. They act so different when there are no people around.
trois
Ya, same here. I use security camera in my bird room, so I can see , mainly what they eat , if they eat, and their behavior .
And yes, I know , what You mean. Specially it is useful to observe adults, which you don`t have to feed anymore , at some point , cause they doing better. I wanna know, what they do, when by them self's. Due they act normally? Are they really okay?? . Cause normally they will pretend to be alert and okay, so you , as predator go away, and then , when you are not around, only then , you will know , if they act healthy or not.
And with adult , getting better crows, is even trickier, cause they will do all of their normal stuff, when I m gone from the room. They will learn to lessen to my footsteps , so they will know , when to land and eat and when to pretend , that they are not even in the room. They are not moving , not eating or they are not even alive for that matter, or anybody`s concern.. LOL. So yes, security camera tells me very different story, how they grab and nibble anything they wish, how they grab and taste not food items, which they learn about, and even take a bath and preen them self and all that crow business, away from my eyes.
It is, as if they would ply, really not useful toy for me, to have around, so I could get rid of them back , in the hurry ...LOL
They can be tricky when sick. The biggest tip off is if the stand on one foot or two. If they stand on to feet very much it usually means something is wrong.
birdscrazy, thanks for the tip about the cat food. I didn't know that about grackles. I'll give it a try.
You are welcom :)
beautiful shot Trois. i love the Grackles when they don't come in by the hundreds lol
There were hundreds around, but they took turns at the feeder.
