grackles and bird baths and fecal sacs

[James Wilson]

I had remembered that grackles like to drop fecal sacs in water so I did a quick search:
"Grackles almost always drop fecal sacs over water. Long ago, grackles usually nested near rivers, and the flowing water would carry the droppings far away. Now many grackles nest in conifers in people's back yards, often far from rivers. But the instinct to drop those fecal sacs over water is still strong, so grackles often drop them in swimming pools and bird baths. "

Good stuff!!!

Jim Wilson
Queenstown

[JAMES SPEICHER]

On 6/4/17, James Wilson <birdman> wrote:
I had remembered that grackles like to drop fecal sacs in water so I
did a quick search:

"Grackles almost always drop fecal sacs over water....the instinct to

drop those fecal sacs over water is still strong, so grackles often

drop them in swimming pools..."
********************************
Another good reason NOT to have a back yard pool :)

This year my water bath has been consistently targeted by this
behavior in contrast to previous years...

Jim Speicher
BroadRun/Burkittsville area
[FR] Frederick County
WA Co. MOS member

[Jim Felley]

Grackles have nested in the evergreens of various houses on my court since we moved in almost 30 years ago. They defile my birdbath, as has been noted. However, they also just release the fecal sacs over the court like WW II 'skip-bombs', such you find a sac at the end of a line of white dashes. The line points directly to the nest, an easy way to find where they are nesting each year. Of course, releasing 'over the court' means 'over the cars', and my neighbors complain. I tell them it will all be over by the end of June.
One year, a neighbor got a bright-red car. I watched a female grackle repeatedly land on the roof of the car and place a fecal sac along the top edge of the back window. Before my neighbor cleaned it off, there were a dozen poop-sacs carefully lined up. Clear evidence for birds having an aesthetic sense! I believe she felt she was 'making the car more beautiful'.

Jim

Jim Felley
Gaitherburg, MD

[Steve Long]

For the first time, this month of this year, my bird bath seems to be
getting targeted. The nearby swimming pool is NOT being targeted. And, the
tidewater cove about 100' away MAY still be getting targeted, because I did
find one fecal sack on the pier.

But, I have had Grackles here for decades without seeing this happen,
before. It seems to be tapering off - with only 6 sacks in the bird bath,
yesterday. Myabe one particular Grackle didn't get the memo? Or maybe the
build-up of spilled-away sacks on the ground is repelling the Grackles?

Steve Long
Oxford

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[Steve Long]

My bird bath fouling with Grackle poop stopped, at least for the past 3
days.

I am wondering if what I did is the reason, or if it is just coincidence. I
was in a hurry to clear the bird bath for 2 days, and simply spilled the
contents out onto the ground, spritzed and refilled, leaving the urate sacks
visible on the ground beside the bath. The fouling tapered-off and stopped
completely withing 2 days (althought other birds do still leave some smaller
droppings). Did the visible (or otherwise detectable) droppings on the
ground deter the Grackles? If so, this might be a useable lesson for others
as well as for me.

As to why this happened to me the first time this year, I did find a Grackle
nest in a new location, near the bird bath, which was not used by Grackles
in past years. Basically, the drought at the end of last summer caused an
Ash tree to die-back and then, this spring, produce a lot of new, short
shoots with dense foliage around the trunk and upper limbs, which the
Grackles seem to think is a nice nest site.

Steve Long
Oxford