Date: 3/16/23 9:42 am From: Roy Harvey via CTBirds <ctbirds...> Subject: [CT Birds] Re: Common Grackles on feeders
One thing you might try is putting out safflower seeds instead of whatever you are using now. It isn't a perfect answer, but Grackles are said to avoid it compared to most alternatives such as sunflower. I have found it isn't quite as popular with the other birds as well, and it sure isn't cheap. But it might be worth a try.
Roy HarveyCheshire, CT
On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 06:21:31 AM EDT, Susanne Shrader via CTBirds <ctbirds...> wrote:
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.
