Spring

Even though it's only mid-March, here in eastern NC there's Spring in the air and the grackles are thinking of sex. Naughty birds!

Grackles

Grackles are interesting birds. I love their mannerisms. I don't get many pictures of them 'cause for the most part they prefer to forage for insects on my yard rather than eat seeds out of my feeders--and they're somewhat timid around people. As you can see, this particular Grackle decided to take the easy route. At least on this day.

Grackles on High

I took this picture last week of a bunch of grackles in one of my backyard trees. By my count there's 12 of them but not all are easy to see in this picture. I have the advantage of having taken 5 pictures of the bunch over the course of 15 seconds or so and some of them are hidden in this particular frame. Note, for example, the second grackle at the very top of the picture--hiding behind the other one. You can just see a little tail and the beak. There's another one almost directly below that one--and you can just see a little slice of the head.

I love Grackles

Many people view grackles as nuisance birds. Sure, they're pushy. And greedy. Stubborn too, I suppose. I think of them as the NYC cab drivers of the bird world. But at the same time they're such animated birds and exhibit so much "personality" that they're great to watch. And those shiny black feathers...

Unfortunately they're not so easy to photograph because while they're very aggressive and pushy with other birds they're very shy and alarmist around people.