Way to go Ed! How many 2240's do you have, just those 2 and the 1377, or is there more? That's Timmy's old 2240 right?
I really hate Grackles. They attacked the Robin's nest this morning which is right below one of my bedroom windows and killed the fledgling which had hatched yesterday! I was downstairs working (again on a Saturday!!) for my company, and heard the commotion outside - Grackles screetching and Robin's making a lot of noise. I was too busy and didn't think much of it. My wife comes downstairs a few minutes later and says there are several Grackles out back and thinks they attacked the Robin's nest. Now we 've been watching the female Robin lay on 2 little bluish-green eggs for about 2-3wks now from our window, and yesterday we saw one after it had hatched. The fledgling was sleeping in there with the mother Robin on the branch next to it standing guard. Anyway I ran outside and saw Grackles everywhere on the trees making a lot of noise and a couple were on the ground just a few feet from the Robins' little tree behind the house. They took off as soon as I came around the corner. A couple of Robins were going crazy flying back and forth making that alarm sound. It was definitely a war zone. I looked inside the nest which was only about 6ft off the ground but well hidden and deeper inside the small 11ft tall tree, and no fledgling! I looked around and found it on the ground dead 2min. later.
This was not the first time the Grackles had done this to the resident Robins. They 've also done the same to the house/Carolina wren fledglings, Mocking birds and Mourning doves. Kill them ALL Ed!! No mercy for Grackles!! I think I will start taking non-immediate lethal shots at them, so they go down but don't die right away, or can't fly. I believe they deserve a slow death as far as I am concerned. They kill the young ones of other song bird species but NOT for food. They have not eaten any of the fledglings I have witnessed them kill. I think they probably do it because they compete with Robins for worms and bugs on the ground, and I have also seen them chase the Mourning doves away from my feeder, so they compete with them too for food. They are just trying to eliminate the competition. They are bullies and killers and that is all they are. The song birds except for Starlings are all peaceful and co-exist with the other species, at least at my feeders and in my backyard it seems so. It is only when the Starlings and Grackles show up, that they all take off and disappear. Probably go to their nests to protect them. DEATH TO THE GRACKLES!!!!
