I don't normally post a Grackle or Cowbird kill until I have at least 5 or 6 on the ground. I was so impressed with the deadly accuracy today of the Marauder that I had to make this post. I was at home at the pc with the window open waiting for a target of opportunity. I heard that noise that said, "look, I'm here". I spoted a grackle out around 30 yards on the ground. I couldn't shoot due to the angel it was on. I know the pellet would be a pass through and there were some houses in that direction. I had to wait until I had a clean shot. After about a minute or two, he found a nut on the ground and leaned over to pick it up. It was a dead straight on shout to the chest. He picked up the nut and at that split second I let the CPHP fly and it went straight into the heart and exited just through the lower back where the tail feathers connect. He dropped dead on the spot. When I picked him up, he still had the nut in his mouth.
I made a quick decoy out of him and no sooner had got in the house I heard, "hay buddy, what you got there?", (In Grackle Talk).
Looking out my window 10 yards away was his partner setting. "I said what you got". I gave him the same thing and put him up with his buddy. You cant beat a live, um, real Grackle as a decoy.
