Black Birds in Dallas – What’s That About?

April 15, 2009 by Kimberly

If you live in Dallas, you’ll know exactly what I mean…

They’re everywhere!!!

There are many different visible species of these “black birds”…In fact one of them has a chocolate hugh; there are some with a blue hugh – some are larger, some are smaller…

Now, they’re not crows and they’re not the black birds I remember from Canada…

So What?
Well, I want to strongly caution you to ever park under a tree in a parking lot – that space is empty for a reason.

There can be upwards of 100 of these very loud birds per tree, and you’ll see them lined up on the telephone wires in the city.

In the springtime and summer, there are definitely a large increase in the number of birds, primarily because, well, in the winter it’s cold and they’re less active or because they migrate further South when it gets cold – like to Mexico or further – and come back when it’s warm.

Last night, while watching the boys play tennis, I actually watched one single solitary black bird at the school on the top of a telephone pole.

(So, one day, when you’re having a tea at Starbuck’s, just watch a few of them in the parking lot.)

It was very loud with a shrill and changeable call…But it had to be loud to attract a mate to him and only him!

How do you get heard in a crowd? You yell at the top of your lungs, right?

That’s what he was doing – trying to get the attention of a lady passer-by!

This species, I have no idea what species that may be, but at the beginning of their call, they have a crackle – kind of like an old vinyl album sounds when it starts, but much louder…

…Then, the call reverts into sounding like an old, short frequency radio – like when you’re trying to channel to listen to someone talking – all crackly, with strange, swirly sounds…

…Then, they give one loud increasing pitch whistle at the end – one call lasts up to about 30 seconds or so…

When they’re not all in a huge gang, you can actually appreciate the measures they need to go to to find a mate and make their crowded lives work!

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I hope you enjoyed this Bird post on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards