Birds dive-pecking deli customers

SAN ANTONIO, June 23 (UPI) -- Frequent visitors to a delicatessen in San Antonio, Texas, say a pair of dive-bombing grackles have been pecking customers' heads.

Customers and workers at neighborhood businesses said the pair of grackles -- collectively named Hitchcock in honor of Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 movie "The Birds" -- haven't injured anyone seriously, but many have walked away with pecks to the head, the San Antonio Express-News reported Tuesday.

"This must be his territory, either that or he really likes this restaurant," said Scott Meyerkord, a frequent customer at McAlister's Deli, the birds' home base.

Local businesses had arranged for the birds to be removed but the discovery of a fledgling that is not yet capable of flying led San Antonio Zoo officials to conclude that the grackles are simply protecting their young, which was found on the ground near where the grackles usually perch.

Tamara Kieschnick, general manager of the deli, said the eatery and other local businesses have decided to tolerate the attacks for a short time longer to allow the birds' young to mature.

"We've put up with this so long, if the babies are about to leave the nest, I suppose we could last another day or two," she said.