I have witnessed the same behavior and found many headless sparrows in the
yard after a grackle attack. I have read that they feed the brains of
other birds to their young (Yuk) and leave the rest of the body behind.
It is supposed to contain the most protein. I started putting out suet in
the spring & it did cut down on the carnage in the back yard. If you have
ever heard a baby grackle screaming at their mother to be fed, you can
almost understand her desperation.
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