Expert: Roger Lederer - 6/15/2008

Question
Hello

I hope you can help me out. I like to keep a feeder in my back yard, but what happens lately is that when ever I fill it, the feeder gets mobbed by Grackles, Redwing Black birds, and Starlings. They usually empty the feeder out in about 2 hours or so, I see as many as two dozen birds at a time, and they bully all the other birds away.
 I tried one of those combination Finch/normal bird feeders, where the opening has a disk with a slit for Nyger seed, or if you spin the disk a wider opening for normal seed. I thought if I opened just one port at a time, it would at least stem the flow, and give other types of birds a chance to feed. Well the Grackles figured out how to turn the disks to allow more seed out. I tried taping all but one of the holes shut, but what happens then is one Grackle will stand in front of it for as long as it takes and toss the seed down to the ground for his buddies. The Grackles seem to love any type of seed I've tried so far (except the Nyger, to which I have yet to attrack a single finch).
  Can you suggest anything?

Answer
There are a few things that you can do to help slow down blackbirds but the solutions will also eliminate other birds. A thistle feeder will pretty much eliminate grackles.  Safflower seed is one of the grackles' least favorite foods and most of the time they will leave it alone. Safflower is not a repellent, it's just not their favorite, so if you use it, don't mix it in with other seeds. And as an added bonus, squirrels and raccoons also are not big fans of safflower seed.

There are a few bird feeders that will keep grackles off, but those feeders are hard to find. Next time you are in Feeders R Us, or wherever you buy your feeders, look them right in the eye and ask them if they will guarantee that the feeders will keep off the grackles, because some feeders work better than others.

Try to keep in mind that grackles do eat lots of bugs. The same bugs that we try to kill with nasty poisons, grackles will eat for free and do it safely. And if all else fails, you can be sure that the grackles will migrate and be gone by the end of October.