~I've had a larger than usual population of grackles this spring. They are nuisance birds in my book because they don't play well with others. When they are at the feeders, very few other birds come around. So I've been trying to outwit them. I have two feeders that have spring-loaded perches--they're made that way to be squirrel proof--enough weight on the perch and the feeding holes close up. The springs are adjustable and so I've been tweaking them a bit every day--I finally have them set so that when a grackle lands, the feeder closes, grackles being bigger and heavier than most of the other birds. I'm a bit worried that the red-bellied woodpecker won't be able to feed, but I haven't seen him/her lately anyway.
~The grackles don't give up easily though. One of them was literally jumping up and down (by fluttering its wings) trying to get the feeder to stay open long enough to get something. The good news is that there were fewer grackles here today but the bad news is that there haven't been many other birds here either--I think they've been throughly scared off. I do think they'll be back if the grackles stay away for a bit.
~Lately I've been seeing a groundhog prowling around. I saw one the first summer I lived here, but not since then. We had a fox that summer, too, but I haven't seen a fox in more than a year.
~Last night I heard something scratching around outside the window. I thought it was a raccoon but when I peered out I saw an opossum instead.
~And this afternoon I saw a bunny hopping across the yard.
2 comments:
There are tons and tons of grackles here. They are so noisy, and a total nuisance, but I think that they're really beautiful. In a creepy kind of way.
Well, you have to admire the grackle's ingenuity, though. From a behavioral psychology perspective (and I do understand wanting to shut out the nuisance birds and animals), I think I'd be pretty interested in watching them.
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