On Sun, 3 Nov 2002 11:00:23 -0600, "cat daddy"
wrote:

have a grackle problem, so I like them, too. Does UT still fire guns to try
to scare them off? It was ever so much more pleasant to hear gunshots while
strolling the campus at dusk rather than the grackle

They shot off one of those grackle guns outside Painter one day,
during the middle of an afternoon guest lecture. The startled face on
the poor visitor, looking around to see if it was time to duck. From
the back of the hall someone says, "Not to worry. It's just Texas."

The noise did get rid of the grackles, or should I say moved them
around temporarily. The guns were pretty controversial as I recall.

"Terry Horton" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 3 Nov 2002 11:00:23 -0600, "cat daddy"
wrote:

have a grackle problem, so I like them, too. Does UT still fire guns to
try
to scare them off? It was ever so much more pleasant to hear gunshots
while
strolling the campus at dusk rather than the grackle

They shot off one of those grackle guns outside Painter one day,
during the middle of an afternoon guest lecture. The startled face on
the poor visitor, looking around to see if it was time to duck. From
the back of the hall someone says, "Not to worry. It's just Texas."

The noise did get rid of the grackles, or should I say moved them
around temporarily. The guns were pretty controversial as I recall.

At least they didn't direct their attack from the vantage point of the
Tower.......

Buy a pellet gun. You can get a very decent one for 50 bucks.

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

On Thu, 07 Nov 2002 13:26:22 GMT, Celeste Evans wrote:

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

To be honest, if she has a registered wildlife habitat in her yard and she kills
these animals thinking it's some sort of "message" to big dumb birds, she should
be stripped of her certification. That's awful. Buy an old fashioned cap gun.
The one that gets loaded with those little bumps on paper and cracks loudly when
shot. I can think of many other ways to get rid of them, including the one your
very intelligent husband came up with.

Even though grackles can be pests, I believe they are protected as a
'migratory' bird and it is illegal to kill them. Plus, you can't hunt
within the city limits.

Even though grackles can be pests, I believe they are protected as a
'migratory' bird and it is illegal to kill them. Plus, you can't hunt
within the city limits.
--

"Ms. Tee" wrote:

For decades our neighborhood has had lots of mourning doves -- gives us a
"stereo" effect when they really get to cooing! Now it seems these nasty
assed grackles are moving in and causing the doves to move out...any
suggestions on removing these nasty birds?

I thought about shooting them with a gun but it's illegal in the city
limits....
I was told that bb shot just bounces right off the little *******s -
Any ideas that are legitimate and make sense? (ie sending them all to Iraq
is a nice thought but impractical)

Thanks, Cheers, Tee

This year so far they haven't gotten to our area, but sure they will in time.They are really running
late as they were here in spades this time last year. Last year I was putting out bread and the
black birds and grackles absolutely took over. I finally noticed that they come about the same time
every day, so I waited until they had made their pass over my area before putting out bread and seed
for the other birds. This way, they ate some of the insects and yard incidentals but didn 't glut
out on the bread and wild bird seed and so would stay in the yard only a short time. I do enjoy
watching them, but they would pretty much take over if fed at same time as other birds. SOOoooo....
after they left, would put up the feeders and bread for the other birds.
--
nTX USDA Z 7B
Leona
Non Commercial site http://www.geocities.com/tvksi/index.htm

Howdy folks,
Some years ago the University of Texas started poisoning the
Grackles on campus. I was a student on campus there and spent a lot
of time coming and going to campus.
The problem was that the U.T. clean up crew was quick to collect up
the little dead black bodies on campus but any Grackles that staggered
off campus just laid there as a testament to the mighty power of the
University. So on the North side of Martin Luther King street it
would be clean as a whistle but on the south side you would be
stepping over dead birds.
Go Horns !

Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

Grackles are both intelligent and tribal. When I was in college in Dallas
there was a mature stand of japanese ligustrums that ran down the south side
of my house that was just full of them. They were a major nuisance. Most
places they become a nuisance because of their great numbers. They defecate
all over the place covering anything and everything from cars to concrete.

They also become brave. There is a Taco Cabana on S. Lamar at Riverside
where they have been a real problem. Its the same with any outdoor
restraunt. I've been eating at a Sonic and had them try to steal my fries.

They are dirty and nasty but they are smart. I've heard of using large
painted owls and such swinging in the wind and also shiny metallic pie tins.
But they get used to it after a while. I used to shoot them in Dallas. I
used an old .22 caliper rifle. It was pretty quiet and where I lived was
fairly remote. I made sure to keep the gun aimed well above the horizon.
The first time I shot one they raised hell. Boy were they confused. The
bullet went right through the bird and knocked it out of the tree but didn't
kill it. It made a lot of ruckus telling the other birds it was hurt. I
had to switch to hollow points to take them out with one shot.

They learned real fast and got to where they watched for me. When they
would see me come out of the house they would all high tail it for another
stand of trees a few hundreds yards away. Then they would send female
scouts out on fly overs to look for me. If they saw me outside they would
stay away. When I went in the house they would eventually return. Then I
started shooting them from my window. They picked up on that real quick
too. If they saw that rifle barrel come out of the window they'd set up a
chattered and be gone in no time.

I hated those birds. I worked at night while I finished school and they
would NOT let me sleep in the mornings. The males make this sound like
someone with nine inch finger nails dragging them across a chaulk board. I
used to wake up to this pleasant sound daily. And they would destroy my
tomatoes without fail.

I battled those birds for several years but eventually it was me who moved,
not them.

A fellow i know that used to have a house in The Woods of Barton Creek had a
problem with deer and used a sonic device that was triggered by a motion
sensor. It was effective until the deer figured it out. I expect it would
be the same with the grackles if something like that was effective with them
at all.

The best approach is to develop a strategy that combines the different
suggestions made here previously. Be persistant like the one woman's
husband who chases them away. Use shiny spinning pie plates or something
along those lines hanging from trees but move them around so they don't get
used to them. Watch thier patterns and don't feed them. (Avoid feeding
dogs or cats outdoors as this will attrack them every time) Develop a
tolerance level of what you can put up with.

Good Luck

Al Hanke

"Ms. Tee" wrote in message
m...
For decades our neighborhood has had lots of mourning doves -- gives us a
"stereo" effect when they really get to cooing! Now it seems these nasty
assed grackles are moving in and causing the doves to move out...any
suggestions on removing these nasty birds?

I thought about shooting them with a gun but it's illegal in the city
limits....
I was told that bb shot just bounces right off the little *******s -
Any ideas that are legitimate and make sense? (ie sending them all to Iraq
is a nice thought but impractical)

Thanks, Cheers, Tee

"Al Hanke" wrote in message
. com...
| Grackles are both intelligent and tribal. When I was in college in
Dallas
| there was a mature stand of japanese ligustrums that ran down the
south side
| of my house that was just full of them. They were a major nuisance.
Most
| places they become a nuisance because of their great numbers. They
defecate
| all over the place covering anything and everything from cars to
concrete.
|
| They also become brave. There is a Taco Cabana on S. Lamar at
Riverside
| where they have been a real problem. Its the same with any outdoor
| restraunt. I've been eating at a Sonic and had them try to steal my
fries.
|
| They are dirty and nasty but they are smart. I've heard of using
large
| painted owls and such swinging in the wind and also shiny metallic
pie tins.
| But they get used to it after a while. I used to shoot them in
Dallas. I
| used an old .22 caliper rifle. It was pretty quiet and where I
lived was
| fairly remote. I made sure to keep the gun aimed well above the
horizon.
| The first time I shot one they raised hell. Boy were they confused.
The
| bullet went right through the bird and knocked it out of the tree
but didn't
| kill it. It made a lot of ruckus telling the other birds it was
hurt. I
| had to switch to hollow points to take them out with one shot.
|
| They learned real fast and got to where they watched for me. When
they
| would see me come out of the house they would all high tail it for
another
| stand of trees a few hundreds yards away. Then they would send
female
| scouts out on fly overs to look for me. If they saw me outside they
would
| stay away. When I went in the house they would eventually return.
Then I
| started shooting them from my window. They picked up on that real
quick
| too. If they saw that rifle barrel come out of the window they'd
set up a
| chattered and be gone in no time.
|
| I hated those birds. I worked at night while I finished school and
they
| would NOT let me sleep in the mornings. The males make this sound
like
| someone with nine inch finger nails dragging them across a chaulk
board. I
| used to wake up to this pleasant sound daily. And they would
destroy my
| tomatoes without fail.
|
| I battled those birds for several years but eventually it was me who
moved,
| not them.
|
| A fellow i know that used to have a house in The Woods of Barton
Creek had a
| problem with deer and used a sonic device that was triggered by a
motion
| sensor. It was effective until the deer figured it out. I expect
it would
| be the same with the grackles if something like that was effective
with them
| at all.
|
| The best approach is to develop a strategy that combines the
different
| suggestions made here previously. Be persistant like the one
woman's
| husband who chases them away. Use shiny spinning pie plates or
something
| along those lines hanging from trees but move them around so they
don't get
| used to them. Watch thier patterns and don't feed them. (Avoid
feeding
| dogs or cats outdoors as this will attrack them every time) Develop
a
| tolerance level of what you can put up with.
|
| Good Luck
|
| Al Hanke

The main thing is to never, never let them roost. We don't take pots
with pecans from slingshots around the branches where they're perching
when we know that there's a big natural feast of some kind. The
parking-lot pests are never interested, but the "wild" grackles are
happy to eat bagworms, whatever are those little green "inchworms" in
the spring, and whatever's around when the pecans are in bloom. But
make sure that they move on and don't settle in for the night and
begin a new roost. When the City sends contract tree crews through to
hack along the powerline easements, there are always roosts that are
displaced and looking for a new home, so be especially vigilent at
those times, when you've heard chainsaws and chippers and when the
sun's getting low in the skies.