Black birds, BR area

I see Grackles pretty regularly in mixed flocks, usually in Fall and Winter. They'll fly in with shitty European Starlings, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Grey Catbirds, and maybe some others. I'm not in your area, but this time of year I see them in pairs or by themselves. They visit the birdbaths pretty regular. They can be "silly" for lack of a better word. We had one that came by the birdbath around the same times every day a few years back. I don't know if it was its reflection or what, but it would be in the bath, fly straight up, come straight back down, and splash in the water. It would do that several times over and over then fly off to a branch to sit and sing its weird song.

That’s the same bird that I’ve always seen in big winter time flocks, right? I don’t remember seeing them here in the summer like this. Interesting.

quote:

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if they are grackles there will be no mistaking them for anything else. They make a racket that will make your ears bleed

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I'm convinced it is the sound that inspired the word "cacaphony".