How to Keep Starlings & Grackles From Feeders

Install suet feeders in your yard. Suet is a special, high-fat bird food mix that attracts a wider variety of birds like woodpeckers and chickadees. If starlings still come to feast on your suet, put the mixture in a bird feeder for upside-down feeding because starlings don't like them. Consider installing feeders with squirrel-proof mesh around them which also keep out larger bird species.

Attach small perches to the bird feeders. Large birds like the common grackle will not be able to sit comfortably on the perch and will find somewhere else to eat, but smaller, more desirable varieties will roost on your feeder for dinner. Another option is installing a feeder with a weighted hopper which automatically shuts whenever a large, heavy bird perches upon it.

Keep milo, cracked corn and millet out of your feeders. Blackbirds and grackles are attracted to these foods, but most other birds don't like them.

Stop adding bird seed to your feeder for one week. The grackles and starlings may become discouraged and go off, looking for better places to find seed. Grackles often gather in a certain place for a few weeks and then move on again as a flock. Once they have disappeared, reintroduce the seeds to the feeder and watch as chickadees and titmice come to feed.

Clean spilled seed off of the ground beneath your feeder. Often, starlings come specifically to scavenge old, dropped seeds and drive away other birds.

Add Nyjer seed, or thistle, to your feeder, as finches especially prefer this type of seed. Finches also prefer sunflower seeds. Mealworms and nectar will also attract a wider variety of birds to your yard. These practices will ensure that rarer and more attractive birds will flock to your home instead of just common grackles and starlings.