They do get loud...when the weather is nice and I have the screen doors
letting "fresh" air in the house, sometimes the males will walk right up to
the door and arch their backs and squawk....makes me jump right out of my
skin.
The females are much nicer to have around, I think. They stay here pretty
much year-round, quietly (compared to the males anyway) eating bugs, and big
flocks of males are here for just a few weeks at a time in the cooler
weather.

"whit" wrote in message ...
Do we have grackles!? *Boy* do we have grackles, but it's one of the few
birds my dog will chase out of the back yard / They all sit up in the
trees and squawk. We have a couple mocking birds that are doing what
they can to help, but...


Sew-Sew Lady wrote:

I'm down in Corpus, and I'm wondering whether you have any grackles in
Austin, as the females do a darn good job of eating the bugs in my yard.
They just march back and forth through the grass all day. I even saw
one of
them grab a cicada right out of the air a few days ago. Between the
grackles, sparrows, and spiders, I don't have to poison any bugs.
Taking them (the grasshoppers) fishing sounds like a great idea, though
I
empathize with the person who doesn't like to handle them. If there are
any
neighbor-kids, I'm sure they'd round up some grasshoppers for you.

Windy in Corpus