Grackle attack this morning

[NewMexiKen]

This morning, Mary Lou and I watched from 9:15 until 11:15 AM. Quite frankly, we expected it to be like "watching the grass grow," but were we ever wrong! Smith and Al were already there. Both chicks were on the nest. A parent soon came to drop off food, and the chicks mobbed the adult as usual, and it flew to roost to the east. The chicks squabbled some, but both seemed to eat quite a bit. Then Hope flew off, first circling over the pasture to the NW, and then to the roost tree, to a flimsy branch just under the parent, and had trouble balancing on it. The adult flew off, and several Common Grackles started attacking Hope, sometimes actually picking at her tail and back. She put up with it for quite a while. Both chicks went back to the nest when a parent brought more food. The adult then flew back to the same roost tree, and became the object of the grackles' wrath.

Jay and Marilyn had come to watch by then, and we had several visitors enjoying the show, including the biker I mentioned in my other post.

[Carolyn J]

Great shots, Ken! Wish I could've been there to see it. Your family photos of the Kildeer are also great. The "wounded" parent is a National Geographic shot!
Thanks, Carolyn