Where I thought our grackles were heading [but they never left this year].

A grackle winter roost in New Jersey - photo [taken through car window] by Judy Glattstein

A reader of this website, Judy Glattstein, has a blog that focuses mainly on gardening. Occasionally she comments on birds, as she did a few days ago after observing a flock of grackles foraging in a New Jersey field. Having read my frequent comments about the Pulitzer Fountain grackles, she alerted me to a recent sighting she'd posted on her blog. See below:

Thursday, 23 February 2006The Birds

It was early afternoon when I finished teaching my class on native plants in New Brunswick. Packed up my books and slides, loaded everything into my car and took to the road. Passed under the highway and got ready to merge with traffic on Route 1 South. Changed my mind and pulled over to the side of the road. The adjacent field was filled with grackles, hundreds of birds, probably thousands of them. They swirled into the air, so numerous they literally darkened the sky, too thick to see beyond the flickering wings. Then settled back to gleaning in the field.

For more of Judy Glattstein's grackle observations, click on the link below, then Diary, then February.
www.bellewood-gardens.com

PS from Marie: The Central Park grackles are still roosting at the Grand Army Plaza these days. And the Bradford Callery Pear trees they're roosting in are beginning to form leaf buds.