I get this on a regular basis, except mine are red winged black birds. They nest in the cattails that are in the pond behind our house. They usually park themselves on the top of my 2 huge maples in the evening and squalk like that. For a while I threw a firecracker to quiet them down, basically chasing them away. Then one day I thought to myself, if they were gone, I'd probably miss em. So I quit.
we’ve got the red wings come through too, but not like these ones I don’t think so. I feel they see the corn like a nice level tree canopy that they can all remain close and not on the wing. But I don’t know for sure
I had some come through and hit the dogwoods. I have not looked to see if they got all the berries. Robins usually stop in them on their way back North.
Starlings/grackles are omnivores. They're probably scooping up tons of bugs. But they'll snag fruit and seeds, too. I've had them come thru but they're not all that interested in the sunflower seeds in the feeder(s). No really huge flocks yet this year beyond a few passing thru in September. Didn't seem like enough.
We also get huge flocks of them at this time of the year but I've not noticed quite as many this year. They sure can get noisy.
We are right on a major flyway for all kinds of birds. I think they follow the river that's a mile to the west. Not uncommon for us to get starlings and crows in the 100's of thousands....big ropes of them for as far as you can see in both directions.
I remember seeing flocks of them when visiting my grandparents in La Crosse. Steady stream of them for hours, or so it seemed.
