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  • Dcav

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    What are the black birds, with the fanned out tails that make the cartoon sounding noises called? The first night I was here in Texas I heard the noise and was like what in the F___ was that. Just thought about it again as I am getting ready to leave work.
    Guns International
     

    dee

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    Probally talking about Grackles
    common_grackle_1.jpg
     

    TrailDust

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    In California we get the Central American Macaws that fly up in the summertime to get relief from the heat down south. Just five or six of these f****n' birds sound like 15 cats with their tails tied together and thrown into a rose bush. You would not believe the ruckus! Like the man said, makes your finger itch to pull the trigger on the old shotgun....
     

    Dcav

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    Thanks Dee, that is exactly the bird. Everytime I hear them while walking the dog he is like WTF was that and can I eat it.
     

    TxPhantom

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    Yep, they are Grackles. Funny thing is, I don't remember ever seeing them in Texas when I was young (I still have a pretty good memory). I lived in Kerrville, Tx when a kid and don't even remembr them being that far south.
    Lot's of horny toads though. Don't see much of them anymore.
     

    MadMo44Mag

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    Yep, they are Grackles. Funny thing is, I don't remember ever seeing them in Texas when I was young (I still have a pretty good memory). I lived in Kerrville, Tx when a kid and don't even remembr them being that far south.
    Lot's of horny toads though. Don't see much of them anymore.
    You can find Horny Toads all over Ft.Worth. They are the ugly girls that go to TCU! LOL!!!
     

    Shorts

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    lol I throw acorns at the birds since I can't fire a bb gun at them. They get noisy in the culdesac now and again.


    In Japan we had huge ugly noisy ravens that would fly off with a cat if you let it. They made a real mess tearing trash bags and spreading contents all over the roads.


    For horny toads I haven't seen those since we lived in Karnes City. Or when I go dancing on Friday nights.
     

    Big country

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    I hate those stupid ugly black birds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the way I understand it is that the fire ant is in fact the sole cause of the decline in the number of horny toads.
     

    TrailDust

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    I think fire ants have a thing to do with not seeing the horned frogs, oh and I hate grackles.

    Out here on the left coast we've got our own non-native species, the Argentinian ant. How do you exterminate a species that, according to scientists exists in a single "super colony" that covers the entire west coast, and the sub-colonies each have scores and even hundreds of queens? The answer is, you don't. These irritating little creatures have all but exterminated the horned lizard from SoCal. I was lucky enough to see one in the desert last year...I was stunned.
     

    Wolfwood

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    we need to train horny toads to eat ants...

    and grackles!!! omfg whenever i go out to my moms place i am sure to bring my pellet gun. ill sit up on the deck which is level with the tops of the trees and sinipe them for hours.
    great fun and goes great with a case of brewskies.
    funny thing is.... it enver fails when im halfway through the case and there is a pile of em' under each tree, i start wondering what they taste like. once i got so far as firing up a grill, but got talked out of it by mi madre... prolly a not a good idea considering their diet. more trash than bugs and stuff probably.
    anyone ever tried one?
     

    TxPhantom

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    we need to train horny toads to eat ants...

    and grackles!!! omfg whenever i go out to my moms place i am sure to bring my pellet gun. ill sit up on the deck which is level with the tops of the trees and sinipe them for hours.
    great fun and goes great with a case of brewskies.
    funny thing is.... it enver fails when im halfway through the case and there is a pile of em' under each tree, i start wondering what they taste like. once i got so far as firing up a grill, but got talked out of it by mi madre... prolly a not a good idea considering their diet. more trash than bugs and stuff probably.
    anyone ever tried one?

    That reminds me, my cousin and I used to be the terror of the neighborhood birds with our BB guns. We thought we were great outdoorsmen. Once we built a fire and cooked and ate some black birds. They must not have been too bad because I don't remember what they tasted like.
    Now I feed the birds (it's a age thing so most of you probably won't understand) and wouldn't think of shooting one.
     

    TrailDust

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    Now I feed the birds (it's a age thing so most of you probably won't understand) and wouldn't think of shooting one.

    It's called maturity. Don't feel bad, in our teens my buddies and I used to go "bat hunting" in the desert near a local spring, and our preferred weapons were tennis rackets. The cruel s**t kids do, but you grow up eventually....
     

    Skip

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    You should see how the intersection of marbach and 410 get infested with Grackles during the summer, they are everywhere. The power lines, restaurants, and trees are lined and filled with thousands of them. I miss seeing horned toads, we just have geckos all around our house.
     

    TrailDust

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    You should see how the intersection of marbach and 410 get infested with Grackles during the summer, they are everywhere. The power lines, restaurants, and trees are lined and filled with thousands of them. I miss seeing horned toads, we just have geckos all around our house.

    Wow, you are SO close to where I grew up many years as a kid...Thunderbird Hills near 410 and Ingram Rd. Mind if I shoot you a PM or two?
     

    Wolfwood

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    the HEB parking lot around 11 pm in New Braunfels.
    OMG a wrist rocket would be so aweosme if it wasnt for the cars. in some parts it is literally a sea of them.

    and as for growing out of it, as long as they keep tearing up my Okra and stuff ill keep poppin' em . maybe they'll learn one day.... or maybe ill run out!


    my poor okra...
     

    res1b3uq

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    I have heard fire ants on the toads. I really wonder if
    DDT might have had something to do with the little reptiles demise. A little doesn't hurt you, but it accumulates----
     
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