North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Tom Olenio <tolenio@sentex.net>]

Hello,

Last year in our southwestern Ontario village I saw a few Grackles.  This 
year there are too many to count, and
they are a real pest of a bird.  They are dirty, leaving their droppings 
everywhere, and drive off other birds.

What is going on?  Why the Grackle population explosion?  Is this a side 
effect of West Nile Virus killing off
birds that compete with the Grackle for food?

I mentioned this to a coworker and they told me how the side of their car was 
covered all last year in
droppings, as the grackles perched on her car to look in the rearview 
mirrors, leaving a droppings when they
left.

Very aggressive bird too.  I cannot scare them off.

Any information on this grackle problem?

Thanks,
Tom