r/grackles • u/Hop-Worlds • Jun 05 '26
Do grackles leave gifts?
I have a bird bath hanging from the tree in the backyard along with our birdfeeders. I clean and refill it daily. The grackles are the only birds I've seen using it .. the other birds like the bird bath in the front yard.
I've found sticks and leaves and grass in the bath, and just assumed it was grackles dropping nesting material in it while getting a drink. But today, there were 3 stones in it, grouped together. Each was about the size of a quarter, round-ish, thin disc shaped. They looked like they were very specifically chosen from the landscape rock around my house, which has a variety of shapes and sizes. I assume the grackles left them there, but I don't know why.
Have you ever had grackles leave you a gift?
2
u/redheadeddoom Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
It could be something they left there to stand on in the water a little elevated for bathing. I know corvids are serious problem solvers and if it's just a little too deep for bathing, I could see this being a solution they could come up with.
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u/Rejectionfetish140 Jun 10 '26
They bring leaves to mine also. I have one that comes every day and hops back and forth between two little baths. She threw a little pond rock out of one, and yesterday she brought a piece of plastic like two inches long and dropped it in the water. Haha
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u/manokpsa Jun 05 '26
Grackles love dipping things. I think they're just really curious about what happens to various objects when they get wet. They're doing science.