Grackles are called "trash birds" around here. They form big flocks, perch in trees and foul the sidewalk underneath, and have a raucous call. They do have one redeeming feature--they are gorgeous if caught in the right light.
I do not know why people don`t like them. There are many around our town who clean up the mess that some adults and children leave in parking lots. Half eaten sandwiches ect that most do not want to soil their cars with. I take stale bread, crackers ect and feed them.
They appear to do the same job as our crows and jackdaws. I'm sure our towns would be much worse for food litter without them around. They certainly do a great job of cleaning up our streets even although they're not as handsome as your grackles.
Funny you should both mention the "cleaning up" that birds do. Grackles are disparagingly called "Wal-Mart birds" because they can be found patrolling the parking lot for the odd potato chip, dropped bit of food, anything edible. Grackles do somewhat of the same job as our vultures--eating up what no one else even wants to look at!
Our sea-gulls, crows and magpies also take care of discarded edibles. The town would look a lot worse without them.
Now if we could teach them to pick up all the paper litter and put the carts back where they belong,,Walmart would have something good !
Marlingardener...we have mostly seagulls hanging around our Walmart, not sure why because no water close-by...they get all the dropped food. Here the grackles and other junk birds can empty a feeding area fast and they leave such a mess. I think they eat a lot of berries because the droppings end up being blueish...when you do see it, there is more than just a small amount.
My back yard is their hangout in our neighborhood and I don't even put birdseed out there but they do eat an assortment of little pesky creatures like crickets and grasshoppers so that would explain the almost critter free back garden. And with the warm winter we have had there is most likely a veritable feast for them out there. They are the reason I stopped filling the feeders with sunflower seeds, they can empty one in a under 5 minutes, I timed them a few years ago.
Seagulls are moving to the cities for easily obtained food (dropped on the sidewalks and found in landfills) and safety from predators (they nest high on buildings) so their young have a better chance of survival. I read in one article that the common seagull is becoming two distinct populations....urban gulls and rural gulls and the two don't typically mix.
