# Grackles have got to go



## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

My wife likes to feed the birds in the bird feeder behind the house. It has attracted its share of sparrows, but also cardinals, chickadees, a downy woodpecker and a red wing blackbird. The morning doves like to peck on the ground around the base of the feeder.
This morning I looked out the back window and saw a couple of grackles pecking furiously at the ground. I went out to see what they were pecking at and saw it was a sparrow. A few minutes later I looked out and saw they got another sparrow.
Well, if they are starting to get aggressive, they might go after the other birds. The grackles are starting to take over the feeder.


----------



## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

It's OK if it was an English sparrow, dang gum invasive species all have to go. They do a lot of harm to native species.

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-burg/invasion_bio/inv_spp_summ/Passer_domesticus.htm


----------



## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

petronius said:


> I live in the city,



I'm sorry. LOL!

I live in a subdivision of 8 house, which is 7 too many. I have never seen a rat around here. Field mice are everywhere, but, I live where they belong. For the most part they don't come in the house, so we get along fine.


----------



## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

DecoySlayer said:


> I'm sorry. LOL!
> 
> I live in a subdivision of 8 house, which is 7 too many. I have never seen a rat around here. Field mice are everywhere, but, I live where they belong. For the most part they don't come in the house, so we get along fine.


I had a couple of mice get in the house, but my house cats got them. Well, they sort of got them. The young female had a mouse corned in the bathroom, but all she did was stare at it. It tossed a small bucket over the mouse and slid a piece of cardboard under it. Took the mouse outside and dumped it at my neighbors house. The big old male decided to give me a present while I was sitting in the recliner. He jumped up on my lap and dropped the dead mouse on my stomach. Then he wanted a treat.
I found how they got in and took care that. I don't have a cat now, they died.
There are a few outdoor cats that wonder around here at night. I think they keep the mice in check, but they aren't fast enough to catch a rat. I have seen them lie in wait, but the rats are faster and get away.

I don't want to poison any of the squirrel or opossums in the yard. I'll put the poison or traps in the garage where the rat is going in the daytime. No other animals are getting in there. Then I'll close up the hole.
I had a rat last year digging under my front steps. I filled in the hole and the SOB would open it back up. I searched my memory from an old chemistry class and made up some bleach and ammonia to pour in the hole. That stuff is nasty and gets hot. the rat was able to dig and push rocks away to get out, but came back a few days later. I packed the holes with steel wool and it never tried to get back under the steps.


----------



## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

The ONLY rats we have ever had a problem with out here were the two legged kind. A couple of crack heads broke in several years ago. Luckily we got everything back. We were not home or they would not have been able to steal those things in the first place.


----------



## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

Scout 2 said:


> I used a shotgun. Some of the best wing shooting practice you could ever get. But when my nearest neighbor is a mile away I can Now if someone could tell how to get rid of the bear that keeps crapping on the deck


You just keep that bear over in your neck of the woods. :lol:
It freaks me out going to the deer camp in the summer. My buddy likes to leave the doors open at night with only the screen door separating me from the bears. No wonder he sleeps in the back with a .357 tucked in his slippers.


----------



## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

Quite accurate

https://www.amazon.com/Crosman-P1322-American-Pneumatic-22-Caliber/dp/B00TEACIIO


----------



## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

petronius said:


> You just keep that bear over in your neck of the woods. :lol:
> It freaks me out going to the deer camp in the summer. My buddy likes to leave the doors open at night with only the screen door separating me from the bears. No wonder he sleeps in the back with a .357 tucked in his slippers.


I would feel safer with a bear in the area than I do with the crack heads in Monroe and Toledo.


----------



## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

FREEPOP said:


> Quite accurate
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Crosman-P1322-American-Pneumatic-22-Caliber/dp/B00TEACIIO


I thought that looked familiar. Field and Stream has that pellet pistol in .177 cal. that shoots about 600 fps compared to 500 fps for the .22 cal. I am not sure which one would be better.
I can get the shoulder stock for it too.


----------



## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

The .22 has a rifled barrel and I would think that would be more accurate. Never tried the .177 but I have the .22 cal


----------



## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

petronius said:


> You just keep that bear over in your neck of the woods. :lol:
> It freaks me out going to the deer camp in the summer. My buddy likes to leave the doors open at night with only the screen door separating me from the bears. No wonder he sleeps in the back with a .357 tucked in his slippers.


Could be worse. He could leave some bacon out and a little grease laying around. He went across the front yard again this morning when I was getting ready to leave


----------



## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

We only have Grackles when they are nesting. Once the young'uns are out of the nest, they scatter. That happened a couple weeks ago, in Belleville. I feed birds, and have never seen Grackles kill other birds. When I keep my feeders full, we have quite a few birds slam into a big picture window, and a fair percentage of them don't survive that. They leave great marks on the window - you can usually clearly see the body, and spread wings.


----------



## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

Fishndude said:


> We only have Grackles when they are nesting. Once the young'uns are out of the nest, they scatter. That happened a couple weeks ago, in Belleville. I feed birds, and have never seen Grackles kill other birds. When I keep my feeders full, we have quite a few birds slam into a big picture window, and a fair percentage of them don't survive that. They leave great marks on the window - you can usually clearly see the body, and spread wings.


You need to hang something in the window. The birds may be seeing a reflection of the sky in the window. 
At one time, I worked in an office building that had windows with a mirror surface. Birds constantly flew into the windows, breaking their neck. If you stood outside and looked at the windows, they reflected the sky. Hawks and vultures had a field day cleaning up the mess. It was fun watching geese try to fight their reflection on the ground floor windows.


----------



## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Nah, we kind of like the random THUMPS.


----------



## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

FREEPOP said:


> Quite accurate
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Crosman-P1322-American-Pneumatic-22-Caliber/dp/B00TEACIIO


I ordered the Crosman 1322 Pellet Pistol Combo in .22 cal. from Airgun Depot. It comes with a shoulder stock, shooting glasses, ammo pouch, and 175 cnt tin of pointed pellets. I ordered an extra 500 pellets and pellet gun oil. I got 10% off.


----------



## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I haven't seen any Grackles at our feeders in weeks. Like I mentioned previously, they disperse once the babies have left the nests. When they are nesting, (in my next door neighbors large White Pine) I have scores of them every day.


----------



## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

Fishndude said:


> I haven't seen any Grackles at our feeders in weeks. Like I mentioned previously, they disperse once the babies have left the nests. When they are nesting, (in my next door neighbors large White Pine) I have scores of them every day.


I've only counted a three or four around the feeder in the past week. But I counted 8 morning doves pecking the ground yesterday.


----------



## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

FREEPOP said:


> Quite accurate
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Crosman-P1322-American-Pneumatic-22-Caliber/dp/B00TEACIIO





petronius said:


> I ordered the Crosman 1322 Pellet Pistol Combo in .22 cal. from Airgun Depot. It comes with a shoulder stock, shooting glasses, ammo pouch, and 175 cnt tin of pointed pellets. I ordered an extra 500 pellets and pellet gun oil. I got 10% off.


My present to myself came today, one day early. It's a beauty.


----------



## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

"Common *Grackles eat other birds*' eggs and nestlings, and sometimes *kill* and *eat other* adult *birds*. They commonly *eat* adult house sparrows. Common *grackles defend *a territory around their nest. The breeding pair defends the nest by mobbing, chasing or diving at predators, including humans."


----------



## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

Sounds like blue jays. You should see the "Mad Cardinal" where I work, it "guards" it's trash can and runs off any other bird that tries to get into that can. The ONLY bird it has not been able to intimidate has been a rather large wood pecker.


----------



## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

DecoySlayer said:


> Sounds like blue jays. You should see the "Mad Cardinal" where I work, it "guards" it's trash can and runs off any other bird that tries to get into that can. The ONLY bird it has not been able to intimidate has been a rather large wood pecker.


I have always heard blue jays were on the mean side and have seen it in the past, but the blue jays at my house ignore the other birds and squirrels. I've been watching the blue jays getting peanuts or sunflower seeds while squirrels are a couple of feet away. A few times I have seen them chase each other, but that was when they were after the same peanut.


----------

