Birdwatching 2

(Grackle photo: www.biology.usgs.gov; Starling photo: www.nps.gov/archive/prsf)


RE: Grackles (Quiscalus quiscula) and European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

Sigh....They've overseeded the front lawn, and the only obvious result is a plague of starlings and grackles! There certainly won't be any grass! These two species are rude, noisy, and rapacious. It's an affront to see them strutting about the front lawn, and they touch down in flocks of 100's this time of year. What's more, they can see us through the window, and engage in ignorant and offensive heckling! It goes like this (we'll call them Geo, Don, Rich, and Al....):

Rich: Hey! Look in there! Bunch of pretty boys!

Don: We're eating the grass seed, pretty boys!

Geo: Yeh! Yum. Yum.

Al: They're too scared to come out and have grass seed!

(We turn our backs to them.)

Don: Ohhh! They're scared! Bunch of foreign birds!

Geo: Yeh! Scared!

Al: Pretty boys! Pretty boys!

Jary: DON"T CALL ME PRETTY BOY!

Al: We didn't call you pretty boy!

Geo: Al didn't call you pretty boy!

Rich: You are though!! Sqwack! Squack! Squawk!

The whole flock laughs!

Despicable! Accused of being an immigrant by a European starling! There are so many of them, and they are outside the glass. Nothing to do about it, except ignore them. It's hard to be cultured and intelligent in a world of arrogant morons.

Geoffrey