So here is how we "manage" grackles in our little corner of Austin. My
husband cannot stand the racket that grackles make. So whenever he sees
them in the yard he yells at them and chases them off. If they are up
in a tree and don't leave when he hollers, he throws a tennis ball or a
plastic baseball bat or whatever at them until they leave. It really is
quite amusing to see a grown man running around yelling "Get out of my
yard you ugly grackles". Lots of arm waving and dramatics. He's taught
our six year old grandson to do the same. I was quite dubious when he
started this little endeavor. But, we do not have many grackles in our
yard, even though the neighbors bird feeders do attrack many of the
birds. He has been doing this for several years, and it would appear
that persistance does pay off. He does work at home and will run out
and yell at them whenever he notices them. I don't chase them off when
I mow the yard and they are catching the grasshoppers. Otherwise I shoo
them off too, just not so exuberantly as he does. He is amused that
grackles can be trained to avoid our yard and is quite pleased with his
solution.

A friend of ours has managed to rid her yard of grackles by shooting
one on occasion and hanging it out on a large pole. She says it acts as
a warning to the others and they avoid her yard. Not my idea of a
pleasant solution, but she has a wild habitat sort of yard, and I
suppose it isn't as noticable as it would be in some parts of the city.


Cea