It's an ornithological conundrum why the Rock Prairie Kroger and not, for example, the Booneville Road Kroger, has such a plethora of these creatures. Did we build on their ancient hunting grounds or something?

more trees

are those the black crows? They are nasty. Where I work they are everywhere. They hire this company to come and blow them away with these horns & lights to try to get them to go somewhere else.

I understand that the birds get a .10 a gallon discount on gasoline if they purchase $100 of food if they use their Kroger card.

Very thrifty these blackbirds.

Meanwhile back to reality. They are transient. 30 years ago they lived on campus in all of the live oak trees. As the group grew A&M officals used noise cannons and other devices to scare them away. The closest large area with trees was the Kroger on Texas Avenue. As the flock grew, they next large area with trees was the Krogar shopping center on Rock Prairie.

It was the perfect bureaucrat storm. A&M could run them off campus because they are the big guy and can do what that want.

COCS council nitwits want to plant enough trees on what was a plains area for 1000's of years because they are pinheads (qualification to be on the council).

Private enterprise cannot do the things A&M did to make the birds go away (poison?, sound cannons, etc).

Thus you screw up nature and this is what you get.

[This message has been edited by brazos county observer (edited 1/18/2010 7:44a).]

Go to the intersection of Booneville and HWY 6 at dusk and then repost your question. There are thousands of birds on the powerlines every evening near that Kroger.

Bertie,
We've had them over here (Boonville) as well. They tend to move around town. I can remember when they were a big problem at Post Oak mall and on campus. They'll stay until they get pestered enough and then they'll move to another spot. There's actually still loads of them around Boonville and hwy 6. Just not as many as out your way.

In the past they congregated farther north in BCS, but since the magnetic north pole is moving toward Siberia at 37 miles per year they have shifted south to the Rock Prairie Kroger.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091224-north-pole-magnetic-russia-earth-core.html

I say find a way to send a surge through those power lines and drop about 10,000 of them at once.

Great plan texred...

Too bad they don't taste like chicken - some enterprising young lad could start their own business - Grackles and Stuff!

Lets be clear: They are Grackles, not crows or blackbirds.
I loathe grackles.

All we need is city council's blessing-I'm sure we could assemble about 100 TexAgs readers with BB guns and lay waste to the grackles.

Maybe someone could build a restaurant just for them- perhaps a Grackle Barrel?

On the bright side if you get to any grocery store about 6am, and drive through the parking lot rather fast it is very entertaining.

Just put me on the roof of Krogers with a few boxes of shotgun shells and my Benelli, and they will be gone in a week.

Just go to HEB like you should be doing anyway and don't worry about it

I've actually done that early morning drag through the lot. It is fun. Have not hit a single one yet.

Why not just put out some poison gradually over time so there is not a mass extinction all at once.

Or maybe hire a hawk?

The grackles are just waiting to fly south.....to the new HEB at Fitch and Hwy 6!

Last time this topic came up, I got flamed for joking that Village Foods offers a cannon-free shopping experience. I will mention again that we don't have this bird problem since people have begun suggesting other stores to shop at in order to avoid them.

Just trying to help my fellow myBCS'ers... so don't give me any crap - please.

Villager, my little boy and I came and shopped at your store this afternoon. We found everything we needed and even brought our own shopping bag.

I saw no grackles, and I did not see NITESIDE dumping butts in the parking lot anywhere.

I HATED going to the RP Kroger from all the filth and bird crap that the grackles produced it is disgusting and a potential health hazard. I don't see why the city doesn't actually try to get rid of them instead of just take it on the chin.'

What's worse is that sometimes when they would put up the nets live birds would still be on the tree and in a few days there would be a dead rotting bird carcass in the bottom of the net.

Someone just needs to make judiciuos use of a punt gun.

Wouldnt it help a little if they removed the trees from the landscaping? I cant wait for the HEB to open up on Arrington

Thanks for shopping, Rock. And thanks for not throwing any cig butts around, Niteside.

What I am going to say next may sound like I am being negative toward HEB. I am not. I only wish to point out that the City of CS will surely require LOTS of trees when/if they build - just like they have required of the infamous development that was going on East of Hwy 6.

It could be worse, I suppose. When i helped Costco relocate a store into Boca Raton, FL, they were required to plant $1.5M worth of trees, etc. That place would have been heaven for Grackles if they were there.

Health hazard? Seriously? Please don't leave your house, ever. There are animals and bugs and stuff outside and they POOP out there.

The dookie-birds are awful at H.E.B around sunset usually.

quote:

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It could be worse, I suppose. When i helped Costco relocate a store into Boca Raton, FL, they were required to plant $1.5M worth of trees, etc. That place would have been heaven for Grackles if they were there.

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We need to quit scaring off the grackles and start a catch-and-release program.

Who is up for a road trip to Boca Raton with a truckload of birds?

We can stay with the Seinfelds at Del Boca Vista, Phase II.

Italian, you should look into what diseases the birds carry, then quantify that by the shear volume of birds in a confined area.

People say your same sentiments about the bats that come out from under the bridge near Austin. Well it is reported that close to 1 in 50-75 bats have rabies. Ok, no big deal, right well every night there are around 5 million bats that leave that area. Please do the math.

While grackles are not known to carry rabies, they do carry flu strains and west-nile. So if 1 in let's just say 100 birds has a pathogen that can be transferred to humans and give or take 10,000 birds that would be 100 birds that are able to transmit diseases.

Given the choice I don't go there when the birds are crapping everywhere. Although it's not Kroger's fault the city won't let the proper action take place.

[This message has been edited by OnlyForNow (edited 1/19/2010 1:24p).]

LMAO over what Rock said. Now that's funny right there, I don't care who you are...

Villager,

We can take the birds in Morty's Cadillac (don't let Jack Klampas drive it), or we can borrow Newman's mail truck. We might have to clean some recyclables out of it first, though. Or a load of fish. Sometimes Newman uses it to haul fish.

Meet at Monk's diner and we can work out the details.

I thought Newman burned up his mail truck when he drove over a sewing machine and the sparks ignited on the gas Kramer was using to remove the lane lines...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
OOOOOOOHHHHH!!!! THE HUMANITY!!!!!!!!

You two are right on.

That is so funny that I almost pee'd myself laughing. Good thing I'm the last one still here at the office.