Date: 3/16/23 3:22 am From: Susanne Shrader via CTBirds <ctbirds...> Subject: [CT Birds] Common Grackles on feeders
Frank Mantlik mentioned that 200 Grackles descended on his feeders during the storm. At our house near Hartford , bears have not been much of an issue, because our feeders are up on a pole. However the grackles have kept other birds away from the seed and do that for months at a time. thus, we sometimes have to take the feeders down and wait a few days till they go elsewhere, but they come back within a day or so. I think this might be a larger problem about putting out seeds for seed eating birds. Might we actually be causing an imbalance of birds like Common Grackles versus smaller birds that can’t access the feeders. I don’t know if anybody’s ever studied that, but it seems that that problem is getting worse.
