How to Keep Grackles, Starlings and Other Problem Birds Out of Your Feeders 

I think we're being misunderstood here, Our mission is enhance our customers back yard birding experience with quality products ,resources and services, part of those services is solving our customers problems, they ask we do everything we can to provide the solution. No one here is discriminating toward any bird species, we're proving a service. You can check our website www.gilligalloubird.com we have many years of solutions and resource's there. Have a merry Christmas, Bob

I have a feeder right out my kitchen window, I got tired of the blackbirds eating all my food so I put a big wire cage around it so it was a real chore for the blackbirds to get in and out. Then I scare them every chance I get. Eventually they pretty much give up coming to my feeder. The funny thing is that the little birds seem to know that they can stay.

Thanks, been spending months enjoying cardinals, blue jays, robins, and finches. The grackles discovered my feeders last night and today my backyard looked like a wall mart parking lot.

Nothing against starlings, but my God, they are extemely tribal... Once one spots the food, 100 of them arrive within a minute

I liked all your tips but we LOVE crows and it's hard to feed crows and not have Starlings. I love the way Starlings communicate and many other things about them, but there are getting to be way too many of them. The only thing I can think to do is only feed peanuts in a shell but then I'd miss the Juncos, and all the other little birds that don't eat at feeders. ahhh what a nice problem though. Now that we're retired watching the birds for hours is a joy.

Hi from Minnesota. The tip on removing bird feeders for a week to get rid of the ravenous blackbirds really worked for us. It did take another 10 days for the songbirds to come back in the afternoons, but we are noticing them now and it helped to toss a little food on the ground during the day under where the feeder sits. Thanks for the info and keep up the good work.

During cold winters, many birds need to start feeding early in the morning to generate enough body heat to make it through the day. Taking the feeder away until the afternoon may not always be a good option.

Thank you for your video and for your explanation that you're not discriminating against, but offering solutions. I love feeding my wild critters, especially smaller birds. I have noticed many starlings and grakles latley, and they're scaring away the wild woodpeckers, so I'm just happy for the information. Thank you.

Two magpies showed up today underneath my feeder. had never seen them before, so I named them heckle and jeckle. 😆 actually didn't mind them being around for a while they were quite polite, heckle and jeckle.

I have those cages you showed around the majority of my feeders. The feeder with safflower is the only one not bothered by the nasty nuisance birds to I didn't need to cage it. I highly recommend people try these. My little Hairy woodpeckers and nuthatches have no problem with the cages nor do the goldfinch, chickadee etc. .

I put out food for any feathered friend that comes to eat. Got a few blue birds, finches and crows hanging around my haunted mansion... I let them all eat by spreading out the feeding places. It's a big yard! Room for more.

I put birdseed outside my window so I and my cat could enjoy watching them. Then the squirrels took over, and I did research and hit on the "hot pepper sauce" solution. Squirrels can't stand the heat, but birds don't even taste it, so the bluebirds, Cardinals, mourning doves, and sparrows returned. 3 years later, suddenly, European starlings discovered the feeder, and from then on, all I had was 50 to 100 starlings eating all the seed in a tenth of the time, fighting amongst themselves, and chasing all the other birds away. It wasn't very long before I didn't want to see another starling as long as I lived. I finally hit on taking the top off a small mammal cage, setting on its short end, and putting the seed cylinder inside it, where the starlings could only get on one side, which faced my window. That way I could scare the starlings off and give the other bird species a fighting chance. Eventually, after about a year, the starlings got tired of this, and moved on. It worked, and now my cat and I can enjoy a variety of birds again, including the migrating Robins.

Thank you for your help.Backyard birding is just a wonderful way to enjoy and learn about nature ,in my case from my kitchen chair where I keep binoculars on the table The joy that it has given me over the years is well worth the price of the seed

I live in a bird sanctuary and I love our Blue Herons, Finches, Bluebirds, and our state bird, the Cardinal. I also love Hummingbirds, but you have to have the time to keep hummingbirds' feeders clean, and I am finally a new grandma. ❤

Thanks for the vid. I have no problems keeping the squirrels off. But would still like to see the Northern Cardinals, Bluejays, & larger woodpeckers around. Also, so many sparrows around. Wouldn't mind evening out the numbers variety wise if possible.

I live in urban Holland with a "wild" garden. It attracts many small birds during this winter but now since a week or so a large group of crows chases the small ones away. Thanks for this video.

Omg im so glad i FOUND U...im poor and the gracles stole all the birdseed today o. Them 😢😢😢ty vm i now know how to keep my sparrows amd their babies from getting killed while icry...

Thank you for the info. Love your happy spirit. Ignore the naysayers.. they prob don’t have feeders and don’t understand the struggle

Thank you for sharing your suggestions.

I was just looking for a way to tell grackles & starlings apart…stayed for your Knowledge & Sense of Humor! 👍🏼

I noticed by feeding grackles they chase away pooping pidgins and doves! Well done!As long as one is not bird watching !Thank you!

We put out black oil sunflower seeds and get Grackels, Starlings, Cardinals, Mourning Doves, Dark Eyed Juncos, House Sparrows and Finches, and occasionally a Red Winged Blackbird and a Black Capped Chicakadee. We also keep plenty of food out for the squirrels. Everyone seems to get along fine.

Thank you for the info, I will try the afternoon thing.

Very helpful, thank you!

Augh. Everything is hungry. I put out feed and just enjoy the show.

We have a marsh bordering our backyard and the Redwing blackbirds came and stayed because we encouraged them by offering food they loved. We spent a lot of money on bird food. We decided we won’t be doing that this summer because their large presence chased all other birds away.

I love our redwings. But the grackles are a pain. They come en masse and devour everything.

It’s winter here now and I have a ton of grackles and I just put out 4 lbs of feed last evening and this morning it was gone! So I think I’ll try your method of taking the platform feeders away in the mornings. Thank you for this it’s just what I needed!

Thank you, very happy with that info! Starlings gobble up a lot of the feed I put out for our little song birds, it doesn't l last very long! That cage to stop them looks very good, I'll see can I get one here in Ireland 👍😉

Thank you for your solutions. Nothing against the pesky birds but I don't want to be feeding them! They literally run the smaller birds off and take over.

Thanks so much. I learned a lot and it will help one of my friends, too.

Thank you./. Great advice

I built pvc hanging feeders on a large T post. Tin on the lower part keeps squirrels from climbing the post. The perches on the feeders are zip ties. Enough to hold small birds but not larger birds. For larger birds I have wire mesh feeders.

very helpful....thankyou so much for that

Thanks for the info!

What an awesome upbeat positive person you are and oh how helpful! Thank you! I learned a lot today from you. Great video.

Hi thanks for all the tips! We call grackles crows or rooks over here in the 🇬🇧 sending best wishes x,kimi

I still love that pictures

Much love and respect to you and your channel. I hope that all is well for you and your family and friends.

A lone grackle isnt so bad but they usually group up in bunches of 50 to 80 and that wipes out a feeder in a few hrs.

Hello from Kansas city, Missouri! Thank you for your feeding method info, no problem with any bird species BUT I HATE the Starlings! They eat all the feed in a day. So will be trying your method. THANKS!

Starlings I see sometimes. Red Wings I don't mind but they come and go. I did have a couple hundred males show up this past winter which was kind of wild and welcomed. They got their fill and moved on though. I had never seen them in their winter colors. They looked pretty cool I thought! Funny all my birds have learned apparently they're safe here and when I get noisy chasing off starlings they don't react hardly if at all but the starlings tend to stay away for a while after I get on their case 2 or 3 times. You're absolutely right though, if you don't get on them early, you'll get mobbed!

Thank you I’ll try taking food away grackles are expert at getting on even squirrel buster feeders

I am so happy i came across your video on youtube. You told my story to a T. I live in the woods in coastal Lake Michigan and have an awesome array of species. Red finch, goldfinch, Cardinals, Orioles, 4 or 5 different woodpeckers including the Pileated and for the first time a Red-headed woodpecker, chickadees, nuthatches, Northeastern Bluebird, tanager and on the rare occasion an Indigo Bunting and of course robins and Bluejays and last but not least the Grosbeak who also have a pretty song. I always get a few Red-winged blackbirds in the late spring and they stay a short while then leave but not this year and along with them, for the first time are Grackles and not just a few, I'm talking 40-50 birds between the two My neighbors hate me because the birds rain poop on their vehicles. My husband is not thrilled with me spending 75 dollars a week on sunflower seed and suet That's 100 lbs of seed and an 18 ct case of suet. I have 7 hanging (large) feeders, 2 suet holders, 2 hummingbird feeders, and 1 more for just plain water for them. Also, I forgot to mention I started throwing cracked corn on the ground for the doves and turkeys and thinking maybe it would keep the unwanted birds off the feeders which was a good idea for the doves and turkeys but also enjoyable for the undesirables. Alas, what was said in your video helped me to make the decision to take down the feeders at night and put them out later in the day It's late June, and right now the hens are bringing in their chicks to feed them, showing them where and how to feed them so I hate to limit them hour wise by not having the feeders out there all day but that's kind of a moot point because they can't get near the feeders anyway and the bad birds can be intimidating and aggressive towards my precious ones. Fortunately, the much bigger birds leave around 7 pm and the little ones that have been watching from the trees all day get a chance to eat as it doesn't get really get dark here till around 930 pm and my cardinals will be the last ones to roost. I also put2 suet cakes out every nite for the woodpeckers. Thanks for the good advice. PS not all Redwing blackbirds migrate, some are residents AND the Audobon calls them ground feeders, Ha-Ha!

I feed them all. Never had issues. Happy feeding.

In heavy winter weather all birds are welcome at my place so they can all see another spring.

Thank you ❤

Your problem birds are my favorite. Grackles are a joy to watch. The juveniles are hilarious, learning the pairs. They are so shy, yet playful. The second they see me, they're flying away. 😂

Love this because squirrles and piggy birds as I call them are eating my feed up every day I have to fill it every moring it cost lot to buy feed 20 bucks and up I was going through 2 20 pound bags a week.. At first a 20 pound bag last almost a month till the piggys starting hitting it.. Thank you going to go to store get this stuff..

I have Jackdaws having no issues eating through a gaurdian feeder and also hanging onto a pole to empty the seed out of my squirrel buster. Might try the putting feeders out from 3pm-11pm. They are in a community garden nearby. No shed for the pole

I read that the grackles eat the bugs you don't want in your yard or garden, so if you don't mind sharing the food with them they can be beneficial in your garden. Doesn't mean I don't want to get rid of them at times. I did notice if I didn't put the food out they didn't hang around as much.

The starling alarm call on RU-vid I'd great for getting rid of starlings for a few days. Here in Ireland.

What about suet? Is there any suet feeder that Grackles and Starlings cannot get into?

Never give up on your dreams and aspirations and remember to be kind and uplifting to each other and open minded and genuine.

Did you notice other birds like cardinals etc stopped coming when you didnt have it available in the morning? My grackles ate safflower as well. Very annoying but i dont want to loose other birds by not having food out all day for them.

Good video. I’ll try your suggestions. Where did you get the bird sounds. Love those sounds.

I love starlings so much, i would want them at my feeders. They are such amazing creatures

Thanks for the tips! I’m afraid I will loose my red-bellied woodpecker if I use the cage. Back to safflower but I’ve never tryied takings the feeders down at night.

Thank you .... the Sterling’s here in The NYC area are ridiculous!!!! They mob everything and then fight and yell !! Really a pain is when I set up perches/props for photography and they’re so many of them that land that the birds I want to actually photograph can NOT get in .. the only 2 birds that I’ve seen that will fight back and born of up with them are red belly woodpeckers & mockingbirds ... thanks for the video!

I don’t mind feeding starlings, or even morning doves but these bloody grackles can literally eat the large hot pepper compressed seed log in a cpl days. They are expensive and the silo feeders are literally empty in a day.

Thank-you

In most of the US if you plan on just putting food out and not monitoring it, you'll mostly end up with grackles, mourning doves, starlings and house sparrows.(SEE CORNELL LIVE FEEDER) I put feeders close to the the house hanging some of them right under the gutter, in front of my windows. When I see any of the pest birds I run them off by tapping on the window, or go outside to run them off, if they go to a nearby tree or line I'll harass them until they are completely off my property. You have to do this multiple times and be vigilant. I have no problems with them eventually. My birds are now cardinals, blue jays, house finches, gold finch, downy and red bellied woodpecker, cat bird, mockingbird, carolina wren, titmouse, chickadees. I also don't put the good food out until I'm around to watch over it. Just getting safflower seeds doesn't work, the pest birds will eat that as well and I don't have the money to buy expensive weighted and barred feeders designed to let in only light weight small birds. I have no problems with squirrels because our neighbors cat harasses them when they get close to the feeder, unfortunately she goes after my birds as well.

I love the Great Tailed Grackles! All the different sounds they make are so fun!

I feed them all. I don't hate any of them. I love my squirrels. I love my wild doves. They are so sweet.

I’m in central Wisconsin and the Eastern Starlings were terrible! I started filling all my feeders with just safflower seed and it not only stops the Starlings from devouring everything, squirrels don’t like it either. However, with it being so cold (-37 windchill as of this posting) the squirrels will eat it if the seed is not doused with Cole’s Flaming Squirrel Seed Sauce.

Cool 😎 thanks

I’ve noticed ever since getting bluejays regularly they chase away the common crackle

Omg thank you!!!!! I ran outta birdseed its getting expensive

We have them here in southern Texas too. Grackles bathe in our backyard birdbath. They nested in one of our trees and had brand new babies this past month. I don't mind them - but they seemed to have pushed out the squirrels and other birds that were here while they were nesting. Now I just started to see the sparrows start to return. Hope to see more of a variety again soon.

I feed all the birds and all the birds feed together. There’s enough for all of them in my yard.

Not an issue. I am pleased to be visited by birds of any stripe.

Awe they like to eat too and they are very social

I LOVE my Grackles!❤️

I was wondering why my seed was going so fast outside! I will take this advice to get the grackles to move on from my yard.

Hi there. watching form Scotland where the starlings have been raiding my bird feeders.They are incredibly successful at getting through the guardian cage I bought sadly. Smart ibirds! However I thought you gave some good advice here. Thank you.

Brilliant

I think the grackles and blackbirds overwinter in my area because they come in the fall and don't leave till spring! I will be using your method of feeding in the afternoon and I'm also going to look for the feeder cage. I have used safflower seeds but always mixed with other seeds so that may be something else I try. Thanks for the tips!

Starlings are the worst around here. We get a few Grackles but not nearly as many as the starlings. They seem to travel in huge flocks. They are mean birds that chase off the smaller more passive birds. They seem to be able to master any kind of feeder. They will hang on even a finch feeder. We get some Mourning Doves but no pigeons. I have bought feeders with cages around them with little success. The birds stop coming. When a bird finally does show up after a few weeks they totally ignore the caged feeders. I have a caged suet feeder that the starlings can still get their beaks into! They can’t get into the cylinder feeder that has a cage around it but they will hang on it anyway. Those birds are terrible pests. They do go away when the farmers plant their fields during the spring but show up again in the winter time. I don’t know how farmers get anything to grow. Discriminate? I sure do try to get rid of Starlings and Grackles! Starlings are not even native to this continent. They were brought here from England by a guy who thought that they would be nice to have in the park! They upset the natural balance of nature! They steal nests from other types of bird. They will even eat the eggs of other birds. If there were a way to get rid of them I would be the first to vote for it!

Just get with it!!

Great video, the grackles at my house are going through a whole cake of suet in one day! The momma is feeding it to her 3 fledglings. I guess the answer is to remove the suet for a couple of days and hopefully they will go away?

This year is the first year we have an over abundance of Grackles. I believe they are roosting in a tall, dense, large evergreen in a property close to mine. I've never seen anything like it. They are messy, bully birds. I'm going to invest in a cage for my feeder to prevent them from emptying it. I have a different sort of Grackle problem. For years I've been feeding a pair of crows. They know when I will be putting food out for them (whole eggs) and they come like clockwork. The Grackles aren't interested in the unbroken eggs but they were literally mobbing the crows while they were trying to enjoy their eggs and I haven't seen them in over two weeks. The Grackles have also been dive bombing my small dogs and bullying other small animals. If I remove the open food sources and use the cage around my feeders will they not come in my yard? Is there anything I can do to prevent them from roosting nearby next spring? I really miss the crows.

you must of had a good job in life. You are ready for Bear!

I’m against these blackbirds (except crows I love corvids) & house sparrows. Thanks for the info 😊

I have a round, covered bird feeder…both top and bottom are close to the same size…bottom is a bit smaller. I have found that if I lower the top to a few inches, the Grackles have a really hard time getting the jelly or oranges I put in the bottom, but the Orioles and Finches can easily access the food. I’m not sure if it’s their size, that they can’t duck down far enough, or they’re not agile enough, but it really helps keep them from devouring all the food.

It worked! I was bleeding money in birdseed because the grackles, starlings & blackbirds gobbled the food by the time it was 10 am & wasn't allowing any of the smaller birds to even land. I used to open the door just to scare them so the other birds had a chance but they stopped caring 😂 after your suggestion, I put the feeders in a tote, replaced with a tube feeder & viola! I plan to put the other ones back up later in the afternoon so the Cardinals , Bluejays & Woodpeckers get some treats. I was scared I had to get cages & spend more money but it looks like this works. Thank you!

Informative video, thanks for sharing. I'd love to have less of them visit and more of the nicer birds. They are bullies. I'm going to start catering to the smaller birds, and buy more caged feeders.

Thank you for this! I can see where the first cage device might also keep out squirrels. I have blue jays that teach the chickadees to remove the seed to get at the sunflower seeds that are in with the regular seed. I have a dense, about 6” thick “carpet” of seed under my feeder because of this. I think the only remedy would be to buy sunflower seeds by themselves and have a special feeder for them. Unfortunately, my area has bird seed that has them mixed, so I’m still faced with the problem. I now feed the birds twice a week, as I’m getting some expensive “grass” under the feeder. Would you have any other solution?

I like the cage you showed and was wondering if cardinals will fit through the holes.

Hi enjoyed your tips. I noticed the Grackles up here in south Ontario Canada show up around March or April . And disappear about August just wondering where do they migrate to. It’s like OK we got our baby’s let’s go . 🐣🐥🦆🦅

Thanks for the info. I will order one of the cages you have demonstrated hoping the distance between the wire and feeder will be greater because unfortunately my problem is the darned Blue Jays and the cage system I bought at my local feed store does not work on them as they just hang on the wire then poke their head through the wire and empty the silo feeder onto the ground which then attracts more of them and all their many many other friends.

Soo true plus not all are bullies

You pronounce "out" like a Canadian. Are you from Virginia? I haven't been able to find a two-piece cage like the one you demonstrate. Do you have a reference, or a source for yours?

Enjoyed your video of information and your shop! I have a square type hopper bird feeder. Will you tell me the diameter of the wire cover cage? I think it will work for the mourning doves. Please give the diameter and cost of the cage. Thank you. Roxanne Paul

I have zero problem with squirrels, mounted all my feeders on 5 or 6 inch schedule 40 pipe. Squirrels can not climb up . Works for me.

I LOVE them ALL mate and feed then seed 365 days and the Blue Jays,Cardinals, chickies, Ducks,Gees man I love all~I even get about 40-60 pigeons quit often and yes it is exp but Im retired and a nerd I guess so ty man for your info~

My starlings have figured out how to wiggle through the cage to get to my food. Guess I'll have to remove my food for about a week as suggested.

Will the cage you describe still allow cardinals to feed? I’m trying to stop the morning doves, but still want the cardinals and smaller birds. Thanks you!

no one ever mentions the Blue Jays They are very aggressive and I cannot keep them off my feeders

I feed orioles jelly in a little hanging tray. Is there a way to keep little purple finches out of the jelly, as they are eating most of it.

Grackles are beautiful!