Melanie, cool seeing the hawk in the yard! That group of large black colored birds looks a lot like Grackles to me. They may be either the Common Grackle or the Boat-tailed Grackle. We get large flocks of them over here at certain times of the year.
Common Grackle:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Boat-tailed Grackle:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
http://www.bing.com/images/sea...

Thanks, Lin! I was thinking Grackles because you guys have posted pictures of them before. I'm going to have to learn bird calls because I hear them way more than I see them. Some of the birds in my neighborhood are quite loud! Heck, even at MOSI I end up yelling at them to quiet down.

Yes, Elaine, there has been more than usual showing up over the past couple of weeks, so I'm pretty sure they must be migrating from up north. This is the busiest time of year at my feeders but I've never seen this many before, ever. Going through 12 or more cups of nectar per day at this point.

There is a usual crew that live in the nearby trees (The Hummingbird Condos ). Maybe the northern hummingbirds coming through have Time-shares. It looks like September will be busy until they all move south which is usually the first week of October.

I'm looking out there right now and there is still a lot of activity going on. Wish I had some extra feeders to hang up... I'll have to go look around.

12 cups of nectar a day?!

I'm inclined to think they were crows Melanie. Here, look at this link & also click on their calls. Crows (American Crows) are HUGE. Like Melanie said --- almost as big as the hawk. And NOISYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g...

Great catch on the hawk Melanie!

The calls would maybe tell the tale, as to ID on the black birds. Grackles have a high, squeaky call, a lot like fingernails across the blackboard and they can be very loud and annoying at times.

Crows, even louder but a very distinctive "caw", much lower pitched.

That being said, my grackles have a white ring around their eyes that I don't see in Melanie's shots.

I listened to all the birds linked and I think maybe they were crows. I used to have a digital recorder; I'll have to hunt around and see if I can find it. That way I can record the noises I hear and compare them to the audio files online. I know a lot of people see a black bird and call it a crow, whether it is or not, so I didn't want to make any assumptions.

I took this photo thru a bedroom window earlier today. The Gold Finches love playing in the water. When they are finished they go back to stripping the leaves off of my sunflowers and one Zinnia plant.

Melanie, I think they are crows, some juveniles in there.

Good eye Ann! Those birds in Melanie's photos are definitely Crow's with that dark eye and heavy bill and yeah they are very loud!

Here are some older photos of mine for comparison. The Crow has a shorter, thicker bill and black eyes. Grackles do have that light eye-ring. The Common Grackle has the long, pointed bill and the tail is a bit narrower and shorter than the Boat-tailed. The Boat-tailed Grackle has a long, pointed bill and a long rounded tail, shaped like the keel of a boat. The female Boat-tailed Grackle looks a lot different than the male, she is brown in color.

American Crow .................................. Common Grackle


Boat-tailed Grackle, male ...................... Boat-tailed Grackle, female

Linda, Love the photo of the Goldfinch in the water! They are such pretty birds. Why do they strip the leaves from Sunflowers and Zinnia's? Do they eat the leaves?

You all are teaching me, little by little!

Aww Melanie, Thank you for the I in turn gave one to Ann who correctly identified that flock of birds.

Interesting Melanie that the hawk and crows showed up at the same time for you because just a few days ago I heard the crows and hawks again. I haven't really heard them this summer. They must kinda hang out together or something??

Linda, love your bathing Goldfinch, they are such cute little birds.

Christine, the Hawks are almost always around but I can't recall seeing a bunch of crows like that before. I've also had a bunny in the yard lately and today saw a rather large black snake. I need my own Nat Geo show!

wildflowers said:Interesting Melanie that the hawk and crows showed up at the same time for you because just a few days ago I heard the crows and hawks again. I haven't really heard them this summer. They must kinda hang out together or something??

Oh boy, is that ever a true statement -- at least it seems so to my dh & I. We have a crew of crows. No, we have a MOB of crows & they seem to love to harass our red shouldered hawks. We have anywhere from 2 to 4 red shouldered hawks depending on whether the offspring have gone out on their own yet. Sometimes though, the hawks turn the tables on the crows & it's payback time. For the most part the hawks do a great job of seeming to ignore the crow taunts but every once in a while you can catch the hawks giving the crows "what for".

The thing that really got me about your description Melanie was your statement about how large they were -- almost as large as the hawk. American Crows truly are large! We see them in relation to the hawks constantly here & while they are close, they are not *quite* as large as the hawks. But crows are bulkier than Grackles. Crows have that heavy build to their bodies. Grackles look sleek to me.

Linda, I loved that photo of the goldfinch! You must have a water feature that they are in?

Yes, Ann it is a 3 tiered one that sits outside the small bedroom window. Lots of life always around it. The Hummingbirds love to bath in it in the early morning.

plantladylin said:Linda, Love the photo of the Goldfinch in the water! They are such pretty birds. Why do they strip the leaves from Sunflowers and Zinnia's? Do they eat the leaves?

Lin, they appear to be eating them.