Expert: Julia Booth - 9/13/2009

Question
Hi,

I live in St. Louis, MO and every year about this time when the acorns fill the oak tree in my yard, several (8 or so) fill the tree and pick the acorns from the tree and throw them to the ground and they land on my deck. Dozens of them. They do this rapidly, it is a constant plink, plink, plink. Do they do this for fun? They don't eat acorns, that I have observed. Every day I sweep abou 50 acorns from the deck. Are they in cahoots with the squirrels? Thank you.

Answer
At the risk of sounding unscientific, grackles are crazy. I have seen them do some pretty insane things. In Vegas they are awake all hours of the day, because the strip is so bright it's like daytime. I watched one attacking it's reflection in the side of a building.

I have also watched a squirrel stalk a feeder full of birds, bide his time, wait for them to be unsuspecting and then take a running leap, watch them scatter and laugh at his own brilliance.

Yes, they do this for fun. I think people don't realize that even animals wish to entertain themselves. If they could do it in some way that didn't result in a mess for you to clean up, that would be great.

Hope this helps,

Julia