I am in full-grackle mode. They showed up last week and I am prepared for the confrontation.
For the past several years, grackles have attacked my yard and birdfeeders like the Russians going after Ukraine real estate. It wouldn’t be so bad if there were 6 or 8, but they come in swarms, as many as 50 or more in a gang. I cannot afford to feed 50 grackles.
In order to continue to feed my songbirds, I have had to adjust my regimen. The first thing I did when I saw the grackles arriving was to switch the seeds in my main feeder to safflower. Grackles don’t like safflower, but the finches, cardinals, chickadees, grosbeaks, blue jays, downy woodpeckers, doves, red-bellied woodpeckers, titmice, and nuthatches love safflower seeds. Bluebirds, however, can’t eat safflower seeds so I have devised a means to feed them suet nuggets and sunflower hearts in fly-through bowl feeders. These feeders are designed for smaller birds and grackles can’t get inside to feed. To feed my snowbirds, I scatter millet seed beneath the shrubs. So far so good on the millet seeds.
I have some hanging suet and the grackles may get at that, but only one at a time can eat, so they usually lose patience and leave it alone.
So far, knock on wood, it’s working. The huge flocks of grackles are staying away.