Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Vain Vincent

 


As long as we had a huge Aleppo pine on the property, we had a colony of great-tailed grackles living with us. They loved to roost at the top of that tree. I soon learned that they made excellent "guard birds" because they alerted me every time a stranger stepped foot on "their" territory.

The photo above shows Vincent in all his glory. He was a very vain bird who ensured that his feathers were always at their best. And in case you're wondering, I named him after Vincent Price, the star of my favorite scary movie.

Denis and I both miss these former residents.

12 comments:

  1. Nice to see that lovely picture of Vincent, Cathy. I always like it when I see the same critters hanging around our place. Crows, phoebes, even feral cats. They feel like neighbors just as the humans who live near us do.

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    1. Yes, they do... although I draw the line at our feral cats that try their best to kill as many of the birds as possible.

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  2. Vincent has the most beautiful colors in his feathers. Love them and thanks for sharing with us, Cathy!

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  3. He's gorgeous! I love grackles, though none really live by me.

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    1. The grackles here used to try soaking their pecans in the swimming pool until I moved in and put out birdbaths. Then they used the birdbaths for soaking. Made it much easier to get the pecans back out of the water!

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  4. We used to have Common as well as Great-tailed Grackles visiting our feeders in abundance and often bullying the other birds. But they don't come here any more. I'm not sure why.

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    1. I've read about grackles moving their territories around, but I can't remember the reason that was given.

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  5. Great photo! I enjoy the birds around my neighborhood too, but have yet to attempt to catch any of them by camera.

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    1. I only started trying it when digital cameras came out. You can take a lot of shots before you get one decent one, and the cost of film was prohibitive on my budget.

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  6. i can't believe I finally got into Google. It's been over a month of trying. Lovely bird. A guard bird. Great. Too bad they are gone.

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