Now that I no longer live in south Austin or around campus among the famous grackle trees, I’ve come to appreciate these rather striking iridescent birds.
There are a few that have been nesting in the trees around the house and so every few weeks I get to see the fledglings learn how to be birds as they follow their parents from feeder to tree to birdbath.
Here’s one of the juveniles with his short tail and fuzzy, discombobulated look.
He hops, beak open and wings flapping, over to one of the adults who has clearly just scored a nice juicy peanut.
Fortunately for junior, the adult bird is feeling generous.
“More!”
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
Nice post. I miss the birds outside my windows in the Midwest… I found your blog from another blogroll and liked what I saw. Good day.
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[…] nested in the neighbor’s tree and they brought their fledglings around to our feeders where I got some nice shots of junior begging for and getting a peanut from one of his parents. They also made sure their young knew where to […]