Unwelcome guests and my new favorite word!

Sometime during my growing up years, a certain Alfred Hitchcock movie appeared on TV with some regularity - The Birds. If you're unfamiliar with this film, a huge infestation of birds descend upon a little seaside village and wreak havoc on the residents. The birds are both gulls and these horrible black birds. Here's a few still shots from the movie and posters:

Images from that movie remain planted in my brain forever more and every time I see a flock like the following photo, I have immediate recall of those nasty birds:

Well, these creatures can be identified and they are grackles. As a lone bird, they could be attractive, except for that creepy yellow eye! When they 'speak', they have either a high pitched whistle or a terrible rasping sound. And they never are loners, as a matter of fact they travel in huge flocks creating havoc with their horrible sounds and bombardment of feces.

We saw them frequently in Texas, mostly in the central to south regions. Every year, it seems they are more predominant in regions further north. Besides being unpleasant to be around, they also drive every other species of song bird from the territory, robbing backyard bird feeders and bird baths of lovely cardinals, robins, sparrows, mockingbirds or doves.

I've despised them for years due to these factors, but as a chicken enthusiast, I have a new concern. Several diseases as well as harmful mites are carried by these creatures (and most other migratory birds). This can wreak havoc on a flock of domestic poultry!

Until the last couple of weeks, we've not had any of these creatures around, but now they've descended upon us and seem to like our tall oak and poplar trees. Yuk! Further complicating matters was my understanding that no one could harm grackles because they were defined as migratory birds by the Fishery and Wildlife Service.

But, I have a glimmer of hope....just look at this!

The Code of Federal Regulations, more commonly referenced as CFR provides this information:

50 CFR 21 §21.43

"A Federal permit shall not be required to control yellow-headed red-winged, rusty, and Brewer's blackbirds, cowbirds, all grackles, crows, and magpies, when found committing or about to commit depredations upon ornamental or shade trees, agricultural crops, livestock, or wildlife, or when concentrated in such numbers and manner as to constitute a health hazard or other nuisance:..."

Hot diggity! We have all kinds of justification to 'control' these birds since 'depredation' seems to be their very purpose in life. That makes 'depredation' my new favorite word and furthermore, since we reside outside city limits, we can operate a fire arm for 'control' with no worries.

Now, for those of you that might be horrified that I'm considering these birds to be terrific target practice, take heart that my aim is pretty lousy and the birds spook quickly. They also return quickly, so we'll see how this war goes, but it's official....Grackles are unwelcome guests at our homestead and we will pursue ridding ourselves of these pests and disease carriers!

We also may need to work on the area that will be the chickens' run to assure that we aren't releasing them from the safety of their coop into mite-ville and disease laden feces in the field!

We'll keep you posted!