The birds that love a good hoof; grackle invasions

Written by Jack Sanders
Friday, 19 November 2010 10:06

Vivien Cord’s nice shot of several Cattle Egrets hanging around with a “matching” white horse at first confused me because it shows yellow-beaked birds with black legs. That combination usually identifies the Great Egret, but these are not great-sized birds. And yet, in field guides, Cattle Egrets are typically shown with yellow beaks and yellow legs.

However, many guides fail to point out that the Cattle Egret has black legs as a juvenile or, as probably in this case, blackish legs as a non-breeding adult (from August to February).  That’s one of the beauties of Sibley’s big Guide to Birds — it gives you illustrations of many forms of variable birds.

The Cattle Egret is one of our few widespread “alien” species that was not introduced by man and instead found its way here on its own — perhaps qualifying it as a species that is not so much alien as one simply expanding its range.

The Cattle Egret came from Africa. As Vivien’s picture shows, it lives commensally with mammals. In Africa, that would be the likes of elephants and antelopes. The egrets eat insects stirred up by the mammals’ feet as they wander through the grasses of open plains.

The arrival of the Cattle Egret in the Western Hemisphere has been fairly well documented. In 1880, a flock of egrets crossed the South Atlantic, possibly disoriented by a storm and making use of equatorial wind currents. They landed in South America and began a march across the New World. They hopscotched Caribbean Islands, arrived in Florida by 1942 and were breeding by the 1950s.

Today, the Cattle Egret can be found in every state and province in North America. Instead of elephants and antelopes, it often hangs out here with dairy cows — or horses!

Great grackles

Pat Sidas of Wilton writes, “As I was watering my houseplants this a.m., I chanced to look out my dining room window to see what was going on at the bird feeder that hangs off the deck.

“Well! There was a flock of about 50 purple grackles on the lawn, on the deck railing, and on the bird feeder!  The grackles on the lawn were comically tossing around the leaves, seeking sustenance.  The ones on the deck were pecking around, probably finding seeds that I had dropped when I filled the feeder at 6:45 a.m.  Others were awkwardly trying to perch on the small roosts of the feeder  (most commonly visited by titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, and the occasional downy woodpecker).  All were squawking.  The smaller birds were flying around, probably very annoyed!

“I could not see what set them off, but suddenly, the whole flock flew up into the trees.  They stayed there for a while, swooped down once more, then took flight and left the area to the ‘locals’ and the flock of Slate-colored Juncos who regularly visit my deck, the feeder, and the ground under it!”

On Nov. 9, Linda Maggs of Ridgefield also had a grackle invasion. “For two days we have had a moderately sized flock — 40 to 50 birds — of grackles hanging around with a few Red-winged Blackbirds among them,” she said.

Like many other species, the Common Grackle comes together in sometimes huge flocks in late summer and fall that wander in search of food.

We have grackles here each summer, but many more nest way to the north of us. On their fall migration journey, they may gather in huge roosts.

One famous roost, named “Grackleroots,” is near a busy highway and truck depot in Methuen, Mass. There, says Massachusetts Audubon, upwards of a million grackles may gather in mid-autumn, on their way south. Their departure from Grackleroots in the morning may attract hundreds of birders to witness the phenomenon. “Those who have seen the spectacle ... described the skies as blackened with birds and the crescendo of their calls drowning out the noises from the highway and truck depot,” said The Boston Globe.

Coming up

Birding at Read Sanctuary, trip to coastal sanctuary in Rye, N.Y., Saturday, Nov. 20, 9 to noon, Audubon Greenwich, 613 Riversville Road, Greenwich.audubon.org, 203-869-5272  x230

Hackensack Meadows / Richard W. DeKorte Park field trip, harriers, kestrels, winter sparrows, waterfowl, Saturday, Nov. 27, 7 a.m., Saw Mill River Audubon, register at 914-666-6503 or email us in advance to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Kakapo Parrot Day, lecture & a film about the world’s rarest parrot species, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2 to 5 p.m., $10 donation, Audubon Greenwich, 613 Riversville Road, Greenwich.audubon.org, 203-869-5272  x239

Bird Tours, with Connecticut Audubon, Tanzania, Jan. 10-22; Cuba,  March 1-13; Costa Rica, March 18-29; Galapagos Islands, April 9-18; Mount Auburn, Cambridge, Mass. May 13-15; Martha’s Vineyard, May 26-29; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 860-767-0660.

Copyright 2010 by Jack Sanders. Send sightings or comments to: jackfsanders [at sign] yahoo.com, or to Bird Notes, Box 1019, Ridgefield, CT 06877; or call 203-438-1183, extension BIRD (2473), and leave a message with your report, spelling your first and last names and telling us your town. If you need help identifying a bird, try your local nature center. If you find an injured bird, call wildlife rehabilitator Darlene Wimbrow of Redding, 203-438-0618, Wildlife in Crisis of Weston, 203-544-9913, or Wild Wings of Greenwich, 203-637-9822. The columnist’s website is www. sandersbooks. com.