My enemies are coming. They’ve wintered in Texas but will soon be on the way to Virginia where they will set up operations in my backyard. But they won’t catch me by surprise.
These black pests drive me crazy. As I try to keep my bluebirds and other songbirds fed and happy in advance of the nesting season, the grackles arrive, usually in March and they stay until July, eating me out of house and home. It wouldn’t be so bad if there were just a half-dozen. I had that many starlings visit this winter. But the grackles come in droves, 50 and more and they relish my expensive sunflower hearts. In fact, they eat most everything in sight – except safflower seeds, which is step one in my battle plans.
When the first grackle shows himself, I will immediately switch my main feeder to safflower seeds. This will keep the cardinals, red-bellied woodpeckers, house finches, titmice, chickadees, and nuthatches happy. But not my bluebirds. They can’t eat seeds with husks, only the fruit. My bluebirds love the more expensive sunflower chips or hearts, but so do grackles. However, I have feeders that are accessible to the smaller birds, but not to the much larger grackles. I have 2 fly-through bowl feeders that I fill with sunflowers hearts and chips. The holes are too small for grackles, but not bluebirds. I also have a dome feeder that I can lower so that the larger birds can’t get in.
My feeders are cocked and loaded, I’ve got a bag of safflower seeds and I’m ready for battle. Show me what you got, grackles. Bring it on.
