Overall what I've come to learn is that sometimes, bird feeding is a strategic operation depending on the time of year. Grackles, Starlings and Red-Wing Blackbirds can force your hand for the need for solid strategy so you don't go broke once the Bully Bird season begins. (March through September). Some bird feeders are best used when these guys show up, and save others for the winter season when the majority of the grackles are gone. It really just adds another layer of fun to what you're doing to attract the birds you do want to see.
First, let's talk about starlings.
If you've ever managed to watch Downton Abbey I guarantee you you have heard this European birdsong as part of the soundscape of this charming series. The sound suits the series. The starlings belong in that scenery. Thats why they're called European Starlings.
In 1890 and 91, the starlings were introduced by an unwitting group with a romantic vision (cue Hallmark movies!) who longed for North America to have all the birds Shakespeare ever mentioned in his writings. A total of 100 starlings were released by that group in Central Park in New York City and their surplanting to North America was unfortunately a resounding success. With a current number in excess of 200+ million they have become a nuisance bird across multiple levels. They compete for food and nesting resources, they flock in the thousands to become dangerous at airports, they decimate crops, and if you're "lucky" enough to have them at your feeders, you know your seed costs just ramped up and the birds that you actually want to see aren't likely going to come by.
Grackles however, are indigenous to North America and are meant to be here. However, they haven't the most endearing personalities as they tend to dominate in number, and bully away the songbirds most want to see at their feeders. They're rude in that they scuffle through your seed, taking what they want and discarding to the ground what they don't and make an awful mess.
And when both birds combine in one area? The mess? OMG the poop they produce!
In moving to our new location I was trying to find a charming location for our rainbow bench so people could sit and watch the feeders. Since we are surrounded by cedar that lines the property, we became inundated with grackles and starlings (more starlings than grackles) and finding a spot for the bench where it wasn't covered with bird poop hourly became a huge challenge. My initial hope for under the magnolia trees were quickly dashed as it was clearly in the path for the birds in releasing their new digested meals from our bird feeders. The bench has found a home now on our seed porch, out of the line of fire. Not near as charming, but ever so much cleaner on the whole!
So how do you control these bully birds at your feeders?
1. Food. Remove the food that they love and replace with food they don't. For starlings, if you have them on their own, moving to striped sunflower birdseed can help. Starlings don't have the beak power to crack these larger sunflower kernels open. Black oil sunflower seed in the shell can be tricky for them too, but it seems that the starlings are starting to adapt to this smaller sunflower kernel and can pop them open. Safflower is also helpful if you have both starling and grackles. Neither like the taste of safflower. Nyjer also tends to be too small for them to be bothered with. This would be the time to move to a feeder with safflower (on its own) and a nyjer feeder plus...
2. Caged feeders. Most caged feeders will prevent these larger bully birds from accessing your seed and suet. Some will just make them work a heck of a lot harder. You can continue to feedThe Right Stuff in the caged feeder. Just ask us which ones work best or check out our selection here. If the Red-Wings show up you'll need to move your nyjer feeder into a cage as well. Make sure to secure it so the feeder doesn't shift inside the cage you're using as they will tip them to make access easier.
3. Some people like the brome Squirrel Buster Feeders for keeping out grackles and starlings. Weights in the form of washers need to be added to make this work, and in my mind seems to be more work than is worth it. By the time you've sussed the appropriate weight to keep out the bully birds, you've also prevented blue jays and potentially other birds with similar weights to not bother coming by.
4. We do have upside down suet feeders that are good at keeping your starlings out, but starlings are figuring out this upside-down game in many situations. So a caged suet feeder may be the better option.
5. If you stop feeding Grackles, you will also stop feeding Blue Jays. If you like feeding Blue Jays then we have a solution. We use the Squirrel Buster Nut Feeder, and put striped sunflower in it. This allows the Blue Jays and Grackles to eat, but eat politely. Only one or two of these larger birds can access the food at a time, and the screen demands they can only pull one kernel at a time. This also allows woodpeckers to eat while not allowing the starlings access as the starlings cannot break open the striped sunflower. The rest of our feeders outside have safflower on its own or nyjer. The only feeder with a mix is caged.
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