Thursday, September 25, 2008

Pssst....Mr. Grackle

Psst.....Mr. Grackle!


Are you talking to me?

Yes, come over here. I want to make a deal with you!



Here's the deal Mr. Grackle. I haven't been getting many birds in my backyard. Just a handful of sparrows, Bob the mourning dove and you. I want you to spread the word to the cardinals, nuthatches and anyone else you come across that I have some new feeders and to come visit me!


And of course you will be rewarded in peanuts! Here you go!



15 comments:

Jayne said...

Did you also tell him that as part of the deal he can't bring 100 of his friends? :c)

The Birdlady said...

Jayne got it right on this one. That's the problem with grackles - they have suck a flock mentality. Very cute post.

Gardener's Garden said...

This one really cracked me up and went well with my morning coffee. Thanks so much for a good laugh!

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Cute one!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Shelly: Very nicely done with the grackle. Just remember, build it and they will come.

NCmountainwoman said...

Oh Shelley, you simply cannot trust a grackle. He'll be back with birds all right...dozens of grackles.

Richard said...

Bird bribing again? I think that may be a federal offense...:-)

Knatolee said...

I dunno, I am starting to think he's the one who knocked the head off St. Francis!

MuseSwings said...

I hope your deal is successful as he is getting a peanut!

Peggy said...

Mr. Grackle has alot of friends, so be careful what you wish for...Mr. Cardinal doesn't like him or his friends at all! Good luck! Cute post!

Kirk said...

Birding in Michigan,

You and your blog readers could help thousands of public school kids by participating in the DonorsChoose.org Blogger Challenge, which starts on October 1. TechCrunch, BoingBoing, Engadget, BlogHer, Curbed, and many smaller bloggers are each creating challenge pages which list specific classroom requests in public schools--and then encouraging their readers to donate to those classroom requests. We hope you will consider participating, too.

During the last DonorsChoose.org Blogger Challenge, blog readers donated $420,000 toward classroom projects benefiting 75,000 students in low-income communities. This October, we're hoping to have an even bigger impact, and we keenly hope you will participate. Technorati is sponsoring the "generosity rankings" and Fortune magazine will be covering the bloggers whose readers help the most public school students.

All you would need to do is:

1. Pick a few classroom requests posted on DonorsChoose.org and add them to a challenge page which takes 1-2 minutes to set up. A quick glance at our search page...
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/search.html?zone=0
...will show you the volume and variety of classroom needs from which to choose.

If you're pressed for time, just tell me the kinds of classroom requests (technology, arts, literature) that would speak most to your readers, and we'll set up a challenge page for you.

2. Do a post on October 1 encouraging your readers to donate to any of the classroom requests on your challenge page. Your readers can give as little as $5.

3. (Optional) Publish a widget which pulls in the classroom requests you have selected and shouts out to your blog readers who have donated to those requests. (Widgets will be available for download on Monday, and I can pass along some cool mockups if you’d like to see what they look like).

BACKGROUND ON THE CHARITY
DonorsChoose.org grew out of a high school in the Bronx where teachers saw their students going without the materials needed to learn. Our website provides an easy way for everyday people to address this problem. Public school teachers post project requests that range from a $100 classroom library, to a $600 digital projector, to a $1,000 trip to the zoo. People like you can choose which projects to fund and then get photos and thank-you letters from the classroom.

BACKGROUND ON THE 2008 DONORSCHOOSE.ORG BLOGGER CHALLENGE In October of 2007, bloggers competed to see who could rally the most support for public schools via DonorsChoose.org. Blog readers gave $420,000 to classroom projects benefiting 75,000 students in low-income communities. While A-list bloggers like Engadget and TechCrunch inspired great generosity, smaller blogs with really engaged readers generated even more!

The next DonorsChoose.org Blogger Challenge, running through the month of October, promises to have an even bigger impact. Technorati is sponsoring the rankings, and Fortune magazine is already committed to covering the event.

If you were to participate, we could help thousands more kids in public schools. I'd love to tell you more if you are interested.

Thank you for your consideration,
Kirk
____________________________________________
Kirk Smiley
Associate Director, Central States, DonorsChoose.org
8445 Keystone Crossing, Suite 200 | Indianapolis, IN 46240
kirk at donorschoose dot org

Shelley said...

Jayne - you just reminded me!

Birdlady - it was definitely unusual to see this one by himself!

Gardener - glad you appreciate my crazy humor!

Lynne - thanks!

Fishing guy - one of my fave movies - field of dreams!!

Birdgirl - you might be right about that...uh oh!

NC - but I'm desperate! :-)

Richard - uh..it was a friendly suggestion...yes..that's it!

Knatolee - well he was in the vicinity too!!

Muse - I told him there's more from where that came from!

Hannibal - I would definitely defer to the cardinal!

Kirk - quite a long post there! I will check out your site.

Nick S said...

funny things aren't they. We usually get a few in our yard this time of year.

Eve said...

Ha Ha!! I hope that works Shelley...but most likely he'll just bring his kin folk!!!

Leedra said...

Such clear photographs, you always do so good with the birds.