It's about 9:30am and I hear a lot of noise outside. At first I though it was Starlings but when I step outside the side door onto the driveway it's the movie BIRDS. There are easily 100 or more Grackles on the big Willow tree. I run inside and grab the Diana 36 .177. I load a Superdome and run back to my office and open that same door slowly.
The Grackles are already flying away one by one and know that I 'm up to no good :) Now I can only see about a dozen but it's still very noisy. The most visible ones are the 2 or 3 all the way at the very top. I pick a good size one that I can see its entire body at the highest point of the tree, and adjust the A/O. I keep turning and turning, and it cleared up somewhere between 45 & 50yds. No surprise there as the tree is 80+ft tall and the trunk is 36-37yds from the door. I zoom the Bushy Legend to about 12X and aim at least 3-4" below the bird. I was standing up but leaning on the door frame just a little for support. I squeeze the trigger and hear a "crack" followed by the Grackle falling. All of a sudden 50 or more Grackles fly off the tree at the same time in all directions making a lot of noise. I had no idea there were still that many on the Willow. I watch the bird fall for a couple of secs and can hear it hitting branches on the way down, but half way through the tree I lose sight of it and don't see it anymore! I run over there and circle the tree over & over but nothing! The dang Grackle got stuck on the tree somewhere on its way down. I look up and it's nothing but a web of branches and many wide enough areas with branches coming together where it could have landed before it hit the ground. Dang! No bird, no pics, and a shot that I probably won't make for a long time again.
I had shot a crow last year on that tree but she was not as high as this Grackle plus it was twice its size or bigger.. but I did do it with an unscoped 350.
Oh well, I 'm going to go back out there and look once again with a stick. Lots of poison ivy at the base of that tree but I doubt it ever made it to the Ground. Here 's a pic of the tree from where I took the shot. The Grackle was at the highest point in the middle branch sticking up, which is actually on the other side of the tree.
