(May 26, 2009)

BEEVILLE--The grackle bird can be seen throughout the Coastal Bend and they leave their mark behind. The birds have become a nuisance from their droppings to their chatter in Beeville, but one grocery store chain is trying to remove them for the sake of its customers.

The grackles love to congregrate in this HEB parking lot in Beeville. To say the least, customers don't like those black birds.

"When you came and parked, you had bird poop all over your vehicle and the noise they made run you up a wall," said J.P. Ivey, a Beeville resident. 

"They were getting messy and everything and it wasn't good for the kids to be walking barefooted out here laughs, " said Larry Boerm, a Beeville resident. 

The grackles caught the attention of store management. They tried to take action. First playing some AC DC music from a boombox, then hitting boxes very loud, but the grackles stayed.

So now they're put up nets on the trees.

"They were trimmed upwards and then they were netted to keep the birds from flying and nesting in the trees in the evenings," said Fred Moron, who is the HEB Store Manager. 

HEB officials claim this action was not a choice but a neccesity.

"We did it because of our customers," Moron said. "We want them to have a safe environment, the sanitary environment to come and shop here in Beeville."

Customers don't miss dealing with the grackles in the parking lot.

"I really don't miss them," said Freddy Garcia, a Beeville resident. "They're gone. They're gone."

"You notice they're aren't any black birds around and it's a whole lot better than it was. It's been a big help," Ivey said. 

The help means HEB customers can now shop without worrying about what's happening outside.

--Manuel De La Rosa, Area 3 News, mdelarosa@kiiitv.com