Bird feeders are being raided by unwanted guests Winter season will provide relief

Autumn is approaching; already some trees are beginning to show red and gold hues amidst the green. While I enjoy the season for its brilliant colors, its crisp, clear days, and its absence of bugs (especially deerflies, which seemed to have been particularly bad this year), I also feel saddened to realize many of our birds will be leaving. Many are gone already.

But there is one migrant that I’ll be glad to see go. In fact, it can’t leave fast enough for me.

I first got an inkling of the identity of this bird when I realized my feeders were emptying at an alarming rate. I’d fill them up at 7:30 in the morning, and by the time I got home from work, they’d be empty. Then one Saturday I left for a few hours after again filling up all four in the morning. When I returned around noon, they were empty.

Up until this point I hadn’t actually seen the birds; they had been conducting their raids in secret. I didn’t think it could be the goldfinches, because there just weren’t that many of them. They are regulars around the yard, and, although voracious, weren’t in the habit of emptying the pantry so quickly.

I started thinking about the migratory and premigratory habits of other birds. Some are known to gather into very large flocks at this time. It had to be an unusually large number of birds emptying the feeders so quickly, and I thought I knew the culprits.

My suspicions were confirmed when I arrived home in the early afternoon hours one Saturday, to find the trees around our property festooned with common grackles. They were everywhere. I estimated there must have been close to 100 – or more – of the glossy black birds.

Compared to the noisy breeding flocks in early spring, this group was relatively quiet, emitting a few squeaky calls occasionally. They seemed more wary now as well and began disappearing deeper into the forest as I got out of my car and walked to the house.

I looked at the feeders. Yep -they were empty.

Grackles are nothing if not resourceful. They are quick to take advantage of a food resource, be it seeds, crops, even other birds on occasion. This trait, combined with the clearing of forests in association with agricultural activity, has caused them to become known as pests. Their adaptability and our alteration of the natural landscape have enabled them to become extremely successful and prolific. As a result, they’ve been known to cause significant damage to agricultural crops, consequently being subject to population control measures.

While I would not have resorted to such measures, I was glad they don’t normally spend winters here and relieved to see the last of them.

I’ll be happy to wait all winter to see them again.

NEWS bird columnist Chris Corio can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net