Roscoe The Tame Grackle Is Back

It's simple really. Animals bond, especially birds. it is far more than love. It's for life. Humans can not bond with other humans, but they can bond with animals.

Kitchi a month before he left south for the winter.

Looking sad? Perhaps just overwhelmed at times working two worlds - inside and outside - at the same time. He has been the smartest grackle of all I have raised, and they all are very smart no doubt, so Kitchi seemed to have managed very well the both worlds.

The bare spot at the base of the beak was temporary and was filled with feathers next couple of weeks.

canonloader wrote in post #16499502
It's simple really. Animals bond, especially birds. it is far more than love. It's for life. Humans can not bond with other humans, but they can bond with animals.

I cannot agree more.

Just removed my previous post you perhaps referred to - how I feel about Kitchi more than anything else. Just felt it sounded weird, however it is what it is. I appreciate your pinning the reason - as always - you are very careful and attentive to so many details. Thanks a lot.

Well, there is a scientific understanding to bonding or imprinting. The most famous ones are ducks and geese. Maybe it's because I grew up on a farm and very close with these animals, but I have always heard, that a duck or goose will bond with the first living thing it sees as it breaks out of it's egg. Be it human or the mother duck, or even in one case that has been documented, a hawk, that hatched the eggs and raised a pair of chickens. And from experience, I can say that it is true. Baby ducks and most other birds it seems will imprint on the first thing they see.

But now we come to the main difference between Farm animals and wild animals. All farm birds are ready to go, right out of the egg. Chickens take about 5 minutes and they are off and running, looking for something to eat and drink, eyes open, aware to an amazing degree and full of life. Ducks, even wild ducks and geese are the same. But then other birds, like most of the nesting birds we know about, need to be raised. They hatch helpless, blind and need to be cared for, but they still imprint on the first thing they see. See is the operative word here. Kitchi was hatched with his eyes closed and you were the first thing he saw.

canonloader wrote in post #16500329
Well, there is a scientific understanding to bonding or imprinting. The most famous ones are ducks and geese. Maybe it's because I grew up on a farm and very close with these animals, but I have always heard, that a duck or goose will bond with the first living thing it sees as it breaks out of it's egg. Be it human or the mother duck, or even in one case that has been documented, a hawk, that hatched the eggs and raised a pair of chickens. And from experience, I can say that it is true. Baby ducks and most other birds it seems will imprint on the first thing they see.

But now we come to the main difference between Farm animals and wild animals. All farm birds are ready to go, right out of the egg. Chickens take about 5 minutes and they are off and running, looking for something to eat and drink, eyes open, aware to an amazing degree and full of life. Ducks, even wild ducks and geese are the same. But then other birds, like most of the nesting birds we know about, need to be raised. They hatch helpless, blind and need to be cared for, but they still imprint on the first thing they see. See is the operative word here. Kitchi was hatched with his eyes closed and you were the first thing he saw.

Exactly as you describe. Here is he fed first day when he opened his eyes. Two days earlier, I picked him up and fed his eyes closed. A moth later he was following my wife and I along our back yard as a puppy. Later on, he grew to become more and more independent. There is also a video corresponding to this image at https://www.facebook.c​om/dmitri.v.novikov if you would like to take a look.

I could not find the video, but I am not on facebook either.

The video is a long way down that facebook page to scroll. It shows public and should be available without registering. On the other hand, I heard from other people they do not find the video either. It is just feeding the small bird for several seconds - nothing much more than the image.

Just popped in to say that I am enjoying the conversation you two are having. Birds are amazing creatures.

Hi Mitch! Long time no see. Everything alright? Still photographing the micro world?

Please join so that we three can discuss birds. They fly a lot and see much more than we see and think about things we do not. They look very happy flying is small flocks before roosting for the night. They are happy most of the time. I wish I was so happy. Birds...

Hi Levina. I am not doing much micro photography at the moment. My T1i has gotten too many dead pixels to do good video now and I have not found another good camera to try yet. I still make up a slide now and then though.

Love the series!

Maxis Gamez wrote in post #16503182
Love the series!

I love your photos. Looking forward to seeing my bird again.

First grackles are back settling in our yard. Waiting for Kitchi.

Post when he returns. We had a really terrible winter here. 52 days below zero F. since Winter started Dec. 22. A new record. I had a whole flock of Goldfinches stay the winter and they seem to have done fine. I fed them on sunflower meats and sunflower seeds and they seem to have shrugged off the cold. They usually fly South early, but this year decided to stay. My first Robin showed up several days ago, but the ground is still frozen.

Post when Kitchi returns. You know, when he gets old, you will have to stop him from flying south in winter. He will live twice as long inside than in the wild.

canonloader wrote in post #16757675
Post when he returns. We had a really terrible winter here. 52 days below zero F. since Winter started Dec. 22. A new record. I had a whole flock of Goldfinches stay the winter and they seem to have done fine. I fed them on sunflower meats and sunflower seeds and they seem to have shrugged off the cold. They usually fly South early, but this year decided to stay. My first Robin showed up several days ago, but the ground is still frozen.

Post when Kitchi returns. You know, when he gets old, you will have to stop him from flying south in winter. He will live twice as long inside than in the wild.

I sure will Mitch. The grackles keep coming back. Now we have about twenty of them roosting for the night in our bamboo. Just a couple of days ago there were only about six there. I am not sure Kitchi will make himself obvious at least right away if he comes back to our place - all the grackles now seem so attached to their groups: they ignore our feeders; at about 7 AM they fly out of town to corn fields, come back about 6 PM, some landing in our bamboo for the night about 7:20 PM, getting quiet at about 7:40 PM. I have not seen a solitary bird yet unlike in the summer - all stay together in tight groups.

Other birds I have had and fed this winter are about several hundred sparrows, about thirty - forty cardinals and several starlings. I have fed them mixed grain about 20-30 lb a week. One male cardinal misses a leg, but he is a good survivor and seems OK. I also have a small hawk, which occasionally catches a sparrow or a mouse. I used to have two, but one died last fall. I think these hawks are too small for a grackle. When larger ones show up, I like to ask them away. Last summer, I saw one eating a small bird on the ground. Until I got closer I though that might have been Kitchi and I felt the worst I remember in years. We also used to have a large owl this winter. One time about 11 PM, it flew in the open from our pine tree, sat in a maple just about ten feet above us and kept looking at my wife and I for good twenty minutes while we were looking at her.

Did you remove your photos of Roscoe and Red Baron? I often looked at them... Most beautiful grackle I have seen on the web.

Also, please look at this - you will love this https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=GXd59QQX5OM