However, their broad, fan-shaped tails set them apart. Their heads are flat, not rounded like boat-tailed grackles. These birds are common from Texas and Oklahoma to southern California.

While sometimes bird feeders attract other non-avian nuisance creatures like squirrels, grackles, and blackbirds, they have become known for invading other birds' space and driving them away.

The birds were great-tailed grackles, a species common during all seasons in areas of the southern U.S., according to the Houston Audubon. "Great-tailed grackles are a permanent sight in Houston ...