Grackle Kills and Eats House Sparrow at Feeder!

[gregp]

The Grackles and House Sparrows at my feeder usually co-exist - mostly by the sparrows staying off the feeder when the Grackles are there.  Today, we were shocked to see one of the Grackles kill, pluck and then eat one of the house sparrows (I'm glad it wasn't one of the White Crowned Sparrows that were there).  When I went out ot to take a picture the Grackle carried the corpse off, leaving only feathers.  
Has anyone seen behaviour like this from Grackles.  Is this uncommon but normal behaviour?  I have never seen Grackles eat anything but seeds or bugs.

[frozenice7885]

yes its normal grackles eat meat regularly u were lucky to see it

[JTF]

They will also pluck young right out of other birds nests and kill them for food or to take over the nest.

[gregp]

As a follow up to my first email, a 2nd sparrow was eaten by a Grackle at our feeder and a 3rd has had a close escape.  The Grackle had the 3rd one pinned to the ground and was plucking his feathers (they seem to do this before eating) when I noticed it.  I had time to get my camera and telephoto and went out out to take a picture (by which point I assumed that the sparrow would be dead).  However, when I startled the Grackle, the sparrow took off. I'm amazed that it was still alive.  The first two were finished off pretty quickly.

Anyway, while Grackles may well eat other birds on occasion, we've had the feeder up for 7 years and never seen a Grackle attack before.  Now we've had 3, that we've seen, in 3 weeks.  Maybe I'm using the wrong bird seed.

[Eve]

Hi,

I have had a feeder up for a few years now.  I too, unfortunately, have suddenly seen grackles attacking and eating my little house sparrows.  I have found feathers from the plucking and have also seen either remnants or the act of a sparrow getting eaten at least 3-5 times this summer.  It seems to be happenign with increasing frequesncy lately.  I find this to be extremely disturbing and would like to know if there is any way to discourage this from happening.  I don't necessarily want to interfere with nature, but I also do not want to witness a sparrow buffet for grackles in my backyard.

Unfortunately, if there is no solution to dealing with the grackels , I may feel the need to take down the feeder.  

Any advice/sugestions would be very welcome!

Eve

[David Shilman]

...Unfortunately, if there is no solution to dealing with the grackels , I may feel the need to take down the feeder.  

Any advice/sugestions would be very welcome!

Eve

That's probably the best solution.  But keep in mind, Grackles gotta eat too!  :wink:

[David Shilman]

...Unfortunately, if there is no solution to dealing with the grackels , I may feel the need to take down the feeder.  

Any advice/sugestions would be very welcome!

Eve

That's probably the best solution.  But keep in mind, Grackles gotta eat too!  :wink:

[Eve]

Thanks for the response.  I know that the grackles need to eat too but on one occasion, it did not even eat the sparrow - just killed it and left it there to rot on my lawn.  I had to remove it after I realized no one was going to natually remove it for me.  And in general, I just prefer not to have to see and hear the trauma (which is what it must be for the sparrow).  

Anyway, there was a rash of killings which seem to have died down.....so we'll see.

Eve