Grackles and Blue Jays
Happy Friday and welcome to #featheredfriday hosted @melinda010100.
Check her post Here for more info on the challenge and send some feathered friends her way.
There are a couple grackles nesting in a nearby tree and they often compete with the bluejays and other birds for food and the nyjer bird seeds I put out each morning.
Grackle
The grackle is a blackbird but a bit longer in length. It’s feathers appear black with purple or blue iridescence on the head. The grackles have gotten a bad rap when they travel in flocks and eat the farmers grain and been known to eat other birds eggs.
Most evening they can be seen foraging for insects, especially after a lawn trimming.
I had to chuckle looking at this one as it appears to be giving me the evil eye. :). I like this pair around as they walk the lawn looking for insects and like to eat the ants. Ants are a problem this time of year as they love the red PEI soil and like to build anthills on the lawn.
The Blue Jays stay around all year but the Grackle will migrate South in flocks once the cold weather settles in. They are known to follow the magnetic fields of the earth.
Says the Grackle to the Blue Jay,
’Don’t tell me to get away from your stomping ground!”
Grackle And Blue Jay
Here the Blue Jay has his crown raised meaning he is wary of the Grackle and doesn’t like him eating the food. I also see the robins don’t mind the Grackle. They sometimes walk the lawn close to each other.
”I’m the king of the castle and Grackle is the dirty rascal!”
#thealliance
How cool! We have blue jays here but not grackles. They are beautiful!
Thanks @goat-girlz. It’s nice to have the pair around. Normally I see them in flocks. One late fall it looked like a scene form a Alfred Hitchcock movie ‘The Birds’ when hundreds of them flew by the kitchen window and actually darkened the house. They were heading South.
Wow! That would have been a sight!
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Grackles really are so beautiful. I seldom get them here, but when I do they empty the bird feeder in a flash! Great photos with the Bluejay.
Thanks Melinda. They are a pretty bird and even to be behaving themselves. :) These two have a nest in the cedar tree beside the garage. I see them flying in and out of it.
Beautiful and elegant
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The last blue Jay shot is just awesome. The grackle seems a lot like a crow, what's the difference between them?
Thanks @Joelsegovia! The Grackle is not as big as a crow. An obvious difference is a crow is totally black while the grackle has the bluish/ purple feathers on it’s head that shimmer in the light.
They still seems to have similar behavior though, that grackle seemed like it was plotting something lol
Yes , that 1st photo showed his evil eye. 😂 👁
I also like the shot with the Blue Jay raising it's feather like saying "I know what you're up to"
They were funny to watch. That one Blue Jay is always around and sort of the sheriff around here unless the big raven comes by. Then they all make scarce. 😊
I really like your entries for feathered friday, there are great shots each week on that event. Someday I expect to be able to get a decent camera to participate, in my country lives some of the most colorful birds in the world and they would be a great showcase for that event.
Kind regards.
#featheredfriday would be a great one for you to enter some of your beautiful birds.
I know your country of Venezuela has encountered hard times and you need every cent to provide necessities. What about using our phone to take a photo and then explain about the bird.
haha! great photos redheadpei! Are those things about the size of crows or smaller? I really like their colors.
Mornin’ Cowboy and thanks! The Grackle is smaller and slimmer than the crow.
Good morning redheadpei and thank you, what are your plans for the weekend?
Not a lot going on, Cowboy. There is a memorial service for an acquaintance who passed 6 mos. ago. I found it kind of late to have something but many people have nothing when someone passes. This got even stranger as the wife posted the date of the service in the paper and then added it was a potluck after. I never heard of this. After the service, usually the wife/family donates to the church ladies who put out sandwiches and sweets with tea and coffee.
Howdy redheadpei! I've never heard of doing a memorial service like that either, I mean 6 months later. So you guys are going? Is it hot there yet? it was 35C here today.
35c ..Phew! you are getting close to 100F. I would find that hot...One has to get climatized.
We have been lucky to reach in the low 20C so far but it will be hotter.
Howdy again redheadpei! What does it get to up there? It's not bad here until it gets to 100 and then it gets uncomfortable and the air conditioner doesn't have a prayer of keeping up. we don't run them anyway until night time.
Mornin’ Cowboy. It can go up to 35C (95F) in summer but usually cools off at night. I have a feeling this will be a hot summer as we have had a lot of rain.
Love the blue jay facing the grackle and all these photos - and the writeup!
Thanks Carol @carolkean! Much appreciate your kind remarks. 💕