The Great Grackle Convention
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- Jojo
- mica
- Treeman
- CarolWallace
- Cottage_Garden
- Jojo
- Maggie_Ross
- mica
- CarolWallace
- Maggie_Ross
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» Jojo - Mica Mica Mica
Mica Mica MicaI enjoyed your tale of the nightly migration of Vancouver's crows. I used to live on that route, and worked near the Depot. There is a very large empty lot there, just across from Home Depot. Unfortunately there is a fence most of the way round this but you can see in quite nicely. In the middle of the lot is a very large puddle where the crows can drink and bathe in peace. To see them here at sundown is quite beautiful. Most of the lot is made up of cracked up old parking lot with red alder shooting through. In one corner of the empty lot you can see plumbing and an area where a warehouse toilet sat.
Why Vancouver's crows visit this spot every night is unknown to me, but they have been doing it for many years, since I was a girl growing up on the crow route near the PNE. I wondered about this and found it was the site of an old farm belonging to the Attwell family, a descendant of which happens to be a friend of mine. Apparently crows have been visiting the site long before the cracked up parking lot was laid down. The family grew alot of forage for cows but also apparently grew alot of corn, but got out of that crop because of all the crows and the problems getting rid of them.
Now that I have moved to the Gulf Islands I rarely see crows, and I miss them because truthfully they are my favourite of birds. We do have ravens here, which are like much larger crows that make less noise, but the most common bird here is a small brown one that makes a lovely noise - could it be a lark? Also quite common are Woodpeckers and also Buzzards.
-- posted by Jojo
» mica - Swarms
Hi, Jojo! Thanks for filling in another piece of the puzzle.Talking about swarming birds reminded me of another cool sight I saw here. There's a bird sanctuary out on the edge of town (near Pitt Meadows, Jojo), and occasionally my husband and I go walking there. One time, a Great Blue Heron flew overhead, and I stopped to watch it go by. Well, it didn't go by; it headed straight for a tree, and landed on a high branch.
I love watching herons; I think they are my favourite bird. When they fly, they tuck that long neck into an s-shape, and leave those gangly legs dangling out behind... they look absolutely absurd. It seemed impossible that this bird could gather up all its appendages and manage a tree landing. But it did.
And as I looked at it, in its tree, I started to notice the other herons there with it. Dozens and dozens of herons, flapping their giant wings, adjusting their positions, guarding their huge twiggy nests. It was a fascinating sight.
Grackles and crows are messy enough, but I sure wouldn't want to park my car under a tree full of roosting herons!
-- posted by mica
» Treeman - Now that you mention it
I once discovered a huge Blue Heron Rookery while working a summer job for Chesapeake Corp. while I was in college. It was at the end of a long cruise line I was working on one of their tracts that bordered on the Dragon Run on the Northern Neck of Virginia. There was 100s of nests and whenever a heron took off it "bombed" the surounding territory.We marked the route into it sparingly with flagging because the booses were always complaigning about us wasting it. We duly reported the find to our superiors who all wanted to see it. When they saw it they decided to preserve the tract and declare it a nature preserve. However they didn't want to risk getting lost returning to the site with media types and and strung flagging for the nearly 3/4 miles back to the tract entrance. No concern about wasting flagging when they wanted to find their way back.
Anyway the rookery was facinating. And, as you say, the idea that such a ungainly bird would nest in the tree tops seems absurb. But thats the way nature designed the critters, and their nests are safe from predators. In such a large community, there are always some adult birds present to defend the town. Even the approach from below is dangerous.
-- posted by Treeman
» CarolWallace - Now THAT is a sight!
Or at least a great mental picture - that gangly flight and all that awkward tree perching!I don't think I've ever seen a heron - and given our ponds and fish, I hear that is a blessing. I always thought they would be a fine sight, though. My allergy doctor lives several miles from here on a small lake and says they ahve a heron - but that he was quite disappointed in it because it looked all dirty and grungy.
-- posted by CarolWallace
» Cottage_Garden - Just flip it a few koi
Just flip that heron a few fat happy koi and it will spruce it right up!
-- posted by Cottage_Garden
» Jojo - A Question
Q:How far from grackles are crows?Crows are very smart birds. At my last place of work I had formed a symbiotic relationship with a few locals. I threw plump juicy slugs onto the corrugated fibreglas roof of the greenhouse, and the crows swooped down and ate them.
It sure is good to know about that bad thing you can catch from their droppings though.
-- posted by Jojo
» Maggie_Ross - Me too, Jojo
Mica, I want to join Jojo in commending your 'rhythms of nature' tale. It has stayed on my mind since reading it too - kinda like a good movie/novel does.Think I esp. related to it because we live in a burb where until the last few years, almost no one had ornamental gardens - seldom even a row of annuals in front of the square hedges. So it is not unusual for friends to show up with people who have never in their life been in a flower garden. You have to trust me on this -its sadly true. Some have NEVER seen a real live bumble bee and some say they haven't seen one since they were kids. So I really enjoyed hearing about you spreading and sharing one of the wonders we gardeners are so gratefully privy to. Poor souls who are missing all this.
One of my favorites: When I hear the honkers in fall, I know the first frost is near and when I see them in spring I know the last will be soon. Nature's rhythms never fail to reward us gardeners with their messages - which always leaves us gaping in awe.
Within the seasonal cycles here, we know every bird squeak and chirp in the garden and always discover a newcomer by his song or screech before we actually see him. Today we heard a really strange shreeking, spotted a huge white-ish bird circling. Got real excited. When he landed on branch, it was someone's pet cockatiel, gone AWOL.
LOL
Thanks for your story Mica.
Maggie R
-- posted by Maggie_Ross
» mica - observing the year
And thank you, Maggie, for the kind words.Several years ago someone shared some wisdom with me. I was lamenting how quickly time goes by in our modern world; he had just read an article about why it happens.
The thesis was that time flies because we don't pay enough attention to its passing; central heating and air conditioning make us forget what season it is, produce is available all year round, we don't notice the moon's waxing and waning, and birds and butterflies migrate without our notice.
Since then, I've tried to celebrate the year's changes... and I'm finding that time's flight has slowed a bit.
-- posted by mica
» CarolWallace - NEVER BEEN IN A GARDEN??!!?
Excuse me for shouting - but that's not only unbelievable, but unbelievably sad!Mica, that's the biggest blessing I've found in the garden - that it forces you to really pay attention to the seasons, to all the tiny signs of change and all the promises each sign holds. But what a lovely philosophy!
-- posted by CarolWallace
» Maggie_Ross - I don't blame you for shouting Carole!
I don't blame you for shouting Carole!!! It must be unfathomable in your garden-rich side of the country. But I have to jump back in here to stress the fact that in the last 5 years, there has been a huge movement in home gardens around here. Problem has been that in this area we are on limestone bedrock with usually only 2-3" of black clay on top. Now this makes a lovely native garden without the rigamarole of rebuilding the earth for mixed borders, but it has only been in the last few years that we could get our hands on native plants commercially. Until they were available, Larry and I used to attempt digging natives on friends properties, but most had long tap roots to drink very deep and would not survive having their life-line cut. Now pot-grown natives and their seed are very available. I'm always lamenting those first tough years of trying to furnish our garden. My best source was from long-time gardeners (and there were few to find) who shared stoic passalong plants that had long ago arrived with the settlers from far-away lands of similiar environments. With the new interest in Texas gardening, there is now an abundance of info and materials available and many more borders are appearing that will mature into gardens. So considering our previous lack of resources, furnace summers and lack of soil, it is no wonder there are so many garden-deprieved locals. It is my biggest privilage to share our garden with others.... magic to watch a child's first experience.And Mica, last May a friend was bemoaning that the saddest thing about being only 16 years away from his expected end-of-life span, was that it might mean he would only have 16 more springs in our garden. He too gets it.
-- posted by Maggie_Ross
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