Re: Great Tailed Grackles, Mourning Doves, and Me

Bill Turlock wrote:
> 
> "Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer)" wrote:
> >
> > The developed areas of the Coachella Valley are home to a surprising
> > variety of birds.  We regularly see ravens, hummingbirds, roadrunners,
> > California quail, great tailed grackles, mourning doves, rock doves,
> > tanagers, and orioles in our yard.  I hadn't been paying much
> > attention to them, except to notice that we have mourning doves
> > nesting in our lemon tree.
> >
> > That all changed about a week or so back.  I had managed to let half a
> > loaf of sourdough bread get stale, so I thought that, rather than
> > throw it away, I'd tear it into small pieces and put it out in the
> > courtyard for the birds.  I'd never really had much of a problem with
> > stale bread before because all of my dogs have loved it and gladly
> > helped use it up before it staled, but that was how my mom got rid of
> > stale bread, so that's what I did.
> >
> > It took a little while for the birds to discover the bread, but now my
> > courtyard is a regular stop for the great tailed grackles and the
> > mourning doves.  I added some wheat berries to the offerings, on the
> > theory that whole grain is healthier for birds than bread.  The birds,
> > particularly the grackles, vastly prefer the bread to the wheat,
> > though.
> >
> > Of course, the bread dries out quite quickly, so the grackles have
> > taken to grabbing a cube of bread and flying over to the top of the
> > waterfall.  There they dip the bread into the water to soften it and
> > then eat it.  They also routinely drink from it, too.
> >
> > It has been just wonderful, watching the birds.  The grackles include
> > full-grown males (big, ****ny black, long-tailed birds) and females
> > (smaller and browner), as well as younger birds, probably this year's
> > crop (smallest, short-tailed, brown).  Just in the ten days or so that
> > I've been watching them the younger birds have grown.  Their tails are
> > getting longer, too.
> >
> > The behavior of the birds is fascinating.  There's a very definite
> > pecking order and we occasionally see some dominance games.  The big
> > male grackles honk (there's no other word for it) to settle things.
> > The doves get into little squabbles, too, and don't hang around when
> > the grackles show up.  A roadrunner dropped by to see what was
> > happening, but left and hasn't returned.  The guides say they'll eat
> > strips of raw meat; they sure don't eat bread.
> 
> > As I write this there are four grackles picking up bread and a fifth
> > sitting on the edge of the waterfall.
> 
> They'll drink as soon as they're done with the bread.



*It*. They'll drink IT!