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Last December I received a letter from Marjorie Roadhouse of Berryville, she vividly described the strange and enigmatic behavior of a grackle in her yard. This letter revealed Ms. Rhoadhouse to be a careful observer and, what I call, a “good noticer,” a quality essential for a naturalist amateur or otherwise.
I answered the letter, interpreting the grackle’s behavior, and tucked the idea away to be the subject of a future column. A week ago I received another letter on the same subject. This letter came from Susanna Lockley of Winchester. Now it is time for me to share these letters and give insight into one of the most curious aspects of bird behavior.
Marjorie Rhoadhouse described herself as “...a novice, but I know enough to recognize something unusual when I see it." She is no novice. Her letter is vivid and detailed. She wrote: “Late this past summer, I spotted a grackle in my backyard, I lingered at the window to watch for the flash of color the sun always coaxes from a grackle’s dark plumage ...I noticed he carried in his beak something large and white, oblong, about twice the size of a robin’s egg. ...it might have been one of the styrofoam peanuts we humans use in packing crates.” See what I mean about expressive writ[ ing? Her letter continued: “The [grackle took a few steps with le ‘peanut’ in its beak, then spit it out again. He repeated
several more times.
After further descriptions
the bird’s movements, Ms.
madhouse continued and
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