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May 18, 2005
Killer Grackles
I don't doubt this story (link via Drudge)
Like a scene from the horror movie "The Birds," large black grackles are swooping down on downtown Houston and attacking people's heads, hair and backs.
Authorities closed off a sidewalk after the aggressive birds, which can have 2-foot wingspans, flew out of magnolia trees Monday in front of the County Administration Building.
We've a pair nesting in a tree in our front lawn, which now has 3 fledgings screeching around the place. A more nasty, raucous, obnoxious bird would be hard to find. I've named one of them Darth Vader, because it seems hell-bent on lawn domination. All it does all day is fly around attacking the other nesting birds in the area......except the mockingbird, which attacks back.
Unlike the other birds, the grackles are afraid of me (heh) because I'm constantly running them away from the bird feeders. If it weren't illegal to fire a gun and/or kill animals within city limits, I would've shot them all long ago.
But since it is, I'd never do anything like remove the screen from the window behind my desk so I could get a clear shot at them at the bird feeders with a pellet gun. Nope, not me. Why, I don't even own a pellet gun.....that shoots very accurately.
Yet.
Posted by Rita at May 18, 2005 10:47 AM
Comments
Since grackles are protected by a federal mandate, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and only a couple of states have the power to enact control measures if they become nuisances, the City of Houston may have to just move their downtown.
Posted by: kenneth at May 18, 2005 01:36 PM
Well dang it, guess I really can't shoot them then.
Posted by: rita at May 18, 2005 05:08 PM
Like in the Bill Murray movie, you could fight them, but let them live.
Posted by: kenneth at May 18, 2005 06:16 PM
Grackles are the one thing that I DON'T like about Spring in Minnesota. By midsummer they've all left town, but right now they're everywhere and they're a huge pain in the ass. Bad tempered thieving bastards, every one of 'em.
I've been trying to come up with an insidious grackle destroying mechanism, but have so far come up blank.
Posted by: Keith at May 18, 2005 08:51 PM
I could probably tolerate them if they weren't so aggressive towards other birds. I've 2 pairs of Downey woodpeckers nesting in the yard, and those stupid grackles keep trying to kill them. And I likes my little woodpeckers. They're such friendly little birds.
I don't think they're migratory here; I see them year-round. They are, I discovered yesterday after a little research, common grackles, not big-tailed like the ones in Houston. Equally nasty though.
Posted by: rita at May 19, 2005 07:22 AM