Grrrrr-ackle Migration

Around noon today I went down to my cousin's farm.  After watering the plants in the greenhouse I decided to see if anything was out.  There is a driving path through the woods but I decided to park and walk in hopes of sneaking up on anything that might be out.  I had not gone far when the noise of hundreds of birds could be heard.

I could distinguish the sound of the Red-winged Blackbirds but was uncertain of the other until I got closer.  Hundreds of Grackles!  Yes, there was also a group of blackbirds mixed in with them.  They moved from pine tree to pine tree like a swarm of locust.  Bits of bark rained down as they were flipping bark off looking for insects.

They found to the two patches of millet that had been grown and left as part of the wildlife land management program and the ground turned black with birds.  I kept trying to sneak up but no way.  They would get up and fly in mass to the surrounding trees.

It was hard to capture a picture that showed the shear numbers of these birds.  I have cropped down a couple just to give you an idea.  It was really quite an amazing sight to see so many in one location.