I am trying to dodge the grackle bullet without starving my regular songbirds and – knock on wood – I think I am succeeding.
I have talked with other birders, and most don’t seem to have a big problem with grackles. By big problem, I mean 50 and 60 at a time, decimating the feeders. That’s a genuine problem when they take down a $5 peanut suet bar in one day and empty a tray of sunflower hearts in a single sitting.
This year is a different story. I have a few grackles, usually early and late in the day, but it’s just 8 or 10, not a flock. Two things have helped.
First. I have put my sunflower hearts in small or domed feeders that the grackles can’t access. I have open feeders with sunflower seeds and millet, but that doesn’t seem to appeal to them. I have also put a suet cake within a wire cage and that discourages them.
If I can keep them at bay a few more weeks, they will begin pairing off and nesting and I don’t mind feeding several pairs of grackles.
I realize, of course, that as soon as this is published, 25,000 grackles will hit my back yard and that’s a lot of bullets to dodge.