Grackles - They're Back!

If there was ever a sure sign of spring for me; it is looking out my window and seeing Common Grackles feeding on the ground in my feeder area. Today there were six! I have been watching for them as March is the month of their return and they are usually the first sighting of returning migrants that I see. Checking back in my records I see that the earliest March sighting in our feeder area was on March 2nd in 2002. First sightings in 2001 and 2003 were towards the end of the month; not until the 22nd and 21 respectively. This year they are somewhat in the middle of the month, as they were in 2004 when they returned to our feeders on the 11th. The second photo on this post was taken on March 18th, 2006 and represents my first Grackle sighting last year. Welcome Grackles! Welcome spring!

For a previous posting on Grackles go to:
http://naturetales.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html