Posted by Peter Conway on September 11, 2009 at 11:44 PM
Yesterday I watched some fascinating behavior from a flock of Grackles. Actually it was a mixed flock with some Starling also involved.
I was in blind when a flock of what must have been at least a thousand Grackles landed in an oak tree next to blind on the edge of a spring that runs there. Suddenly it was raining acorns. They were dropping everywhere and literally with the rapidity of rain. The birds were harvesting them and letting them fall to the ground. This lasted for at least three minutes and then the flock descended.
It was like a scene from the Hitchcock movies with birds everywhere feeding on the acorns and bathing in the spring. My 800mm lens was completely wrong for the situation and I could not use the tripod since they were off to the side of me. I detached it and handheld it for some shots as I tried to capture the hectic scene of constant motion and sound.
I have never witnessed this before and was amazed at the planning and behavior to first harvest the nuts, and then feed off them. Have others watched this and is it common?
This photo is of a portion of the spring. Imagine a 50 ft stretch of water all looking just like this.
Posted by Peter Conway on September 11, 2009 at 11:50 PM
one more,
Posted by Ed Cordes on September 12, 2009 at 8:25 AM
Wow! ?This must have been quite an experience! Despite having "the wrong lens" you did a good job of capturing the chaos you must have felt.
Posted by Ron Dudley on September 12, 2009 at 8:37 AM
What an amazing scene to witness Peter. I'm always appreciative of documentation of interesting or unique behaviors like this. An excellent post in this relatively new forum.
Posted by Peter Conway on September 12, 2009 at 9:13 AM
Ron,
Before I took up photography I bow hunted for many years and often used oak tress as stands or blinds. I never saw this behavior before yesterday. The plan and teamwork was really something. I am very curious as to if others have seen this or similar behavior from flocks.
Posted by Peter Conway on September 12, 2009 at 9:22 AM
Here is one more photo of a Grackle on the bank of the Spring. You can see all the acorns on the ground.
Posted by Peter Conway on September 12, 2009 at 9:32 AM
Eating acorns
Posted by Toni Lankerd on September 12, 2009 at 10:30 AM
I didn't even know birds ate acorns! What a great experience to witness, Peter...nice capture of the activity!
Posted by bill meikle on September 12, 2009 at 3:53 PM
Peter, I think your first shot is a winner, great job. My backyard was full of grackles this morning too.
Posted by Dennis Plank on September 13, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Very interesting behavior, Peter. We don't have them out this way. My wife has seen the Stellar's Jays harvesting our one species of acorn and they're currently harvesting filberts-much the same shape and size. . Neither of us has seen that kind of concerted action. They certainly harvest our filberts. Do you by chance know what the species of oak was and whether the acorns were still green-they look brown in the image. Those are some neat images.
Posted by Peter Conway on September 13, 2009 at 10:36 PM
Dennis,
The acorns were brown. I am not sure what kind of Oak it is although I believe it to be a white oak of some kind.
I appreciate the comments on the images and agree the first one is the only "keeper". I posted the others to help explain the behavior. I am still amazed at the concerted effort to cut the acorns from the tree. Large flocks at this time of year are pretty normal and the behavior probably is too but somehow I've never witnessed it before.
Discussion
10 repliesI was in blind when a flock of what must have been at least a thousand Grackles landed in an oak tree next to blind on the edge of a spring that runs there. Suddenly it was raining acorns. They were dropping everywhere and literally with the rapidity of rain. The birds were harvesting them and letting them fall to the ground. This lasted for at least three minutes and then the flock descended.
It was like a scene from the Hitchcock movies with birds everywhere feeding on the acorns and bathing in the spring. My 800mm lens was completely wrong for the situation and I could not use the tripod since they were off to the side of me. I detached it and handheld it for some shots as I tried to capture the hectic scene of constant motion and sound.
I have never witnessed this before and was amazed at the planning and behavior to first harvest the nuts, and then feed off them. Have others watched this and is it common?
This photo is of a portion of the spring. Imagine a 50 ft stretch of water all looking just like this.
Before I took up photography I bow hunted for many years and often used oak tress as stands or blinds. I never saw this behavior before yesterday. The plan and teamwork was really something. I am very curious as to if others have seen this or similar behavior from flocks.
The acorns were brown. I am not sure what kind of Oak it is although I believe it to be a white oak of some kind.
I appreciate the comments on the images and agree the first one is the only "keeper". I posted the others to help explain the behavior. I am still amazed at the concerted effort to cut the acorns from the tree. Large flocks at this time of year are pretty normal and the behavior probably is too but somehow I've never witnessed it before.