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Re: [GWL]: Grackles

Hmmm.....well, I don't know about that.  Most of the loss of native
song birds has to do with loss of habitat both in the US and in
Central and South America where some of them winter.  Human
development tends to break up the contiguous stretches of woodland
that a lot of them need for breeding.  From what I've read, the
brown-headed cowbird is much more of a problem as far as lowering
song bird population is concerned; they are nest parasites who are
cashing in on the reduction of large tracts of contiguous woodland,
which permits them to prey on more and more species...they are birds
who won't penetrate deep into woodlands, but will move into stands of
woods surrounded by more open territory.

Starlings are highly adaptable birds, unlike some of our more revered
song birds, which is why they are so successful; many song birds are
not adaptable and when the environment they require disappears, so do
they.  We used to have a starling family living in the roof of a
small side porch off our bedroom.  I rather enjoyed them; the plumage
is quite a lovely iridescent black and they are great mimics so that
their song is actually a medley of many bird songs.  They moved away
when we screened in the porch and now, I only see starlings in dead
of winter when there's heavy snow cover...we put out popcorn for them
to keep them out of the bird feeders...seems to work OK.  I actually
miss their songs and antics in summer.  They also are great predators
of those big white grubs that live in lawns....the kind that turn
into Japanese beetles and June bugs.  When you see a group of
starlings walking across a grassy bit, they are hunting grubs; they
can hear them in the ground and dig them out with those long, strong
beaks...something to think about when you feel they are worthless.

I also have a family or two of grackles every year.  They do not seem
to create any problems with my other local birds and I enjoy their
watery, rusty hinge calls...dunno how else to describe their
conversation.

Carol...couple of web sites that may be of interest to you in doing
your grackle article:

http://birds.cornell.edu/

http://www.mbr.nbs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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----------
> From: Debbie Leung <dleung2@earthlink.net>
> 
> I think I remember hearing that starlings are chasing out native
song birds and causing their
> populations to diminish.  If I was doing an article, I'd research
this because the loss of song
> birds is quite a tragedy.
> 
> Debbie Leung
> Olympia, WA

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