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Common Grackles

Common Grackles, like a number of different bird species, have benefited greatly as a result of human-made habitat changes. The clearing of forests for agriculture during Ohio’s settlement expanded habitat for Grackles. Additionally, this species has benefited from agricultural grains, and backyard birdfeeders.

In Ohio, Common Grackles nest in a variety of habitats including urban and suburban residential areas; occasionally nesting under the eaves of houses.

Creating Habitat for Common Grackles

Attracting Common Grackles to the backyard can be a bitter sweet affair. On one hand Common Grackles are beautiful birds to watch and learn from, but on the other they can also be problematic for smaller birds. Here are some tricks to inviting Grackles into your backyard while promoting a peaceful coexistence among your other common feeder birds.

• Grackles prefer feeding on flat surfaces, like the ground. Try offering them a platform feeder set off and away from some of the other feeders in your yard.

• Grackles will eat a variety of different foods however they show a preference for cracked corn. Try offering cracked corn on your platform feeder. To add a little variety try mixing in dried meal worms and bits of dried fruit.

• Orange halves can be a valuable source of water, vitamins, and minerals to birds, especially to Orioles and other blackbirds, like Grackles. Try placing orange halves around your yard in various locations like your platform feeder and in a suet feeder once the suet is gone.

• To discourage Grackles at your other feeders, and still provide food for some of your other feeder birds, try switching to tube feeders or squirrel-proof feeders. Larger, more aggressive birds, like Grackles and Blue Jays, have difficulty perching on the smaller perches of tube feeders, and are excluded from the squirrel-proof feeders by the wire mesh.

• To encourage Grackles to nest in your yard you may consider leaving bits of potential nest material, like raffia, yarn, wool, or cotton, at various locations around your yard. You can place these materials in an empty, clean suet feeder or place them in an empty mesh bag (like those that you can purchase potatoes, apples, oranges, and onions in at your local grocery store) and hang from a tree in your yard. Doing so will allow the birds to pick and choose the materials they wish to use, but prevent excess material from being blown around the yard.

Photos courtesy of WoodLink

Plantings for Common Grackles

Common Grackles nest in a variety of locations, but seem to exhibit a preference for conifers. This is partly due to the fact that Grackles begin nesting as early as mid- to late-March, when many trees still do not have leaves. As a result conifers provide necessary cover for Grackle nests; protecting them from the weather and from predators.

Photo courtesy of Maslwoski Productions

*C= Central Ohio counties, NE=North East, NW= North West , SW=South West, SE=South East

Juniper - Photo courtesy of Casey Tucker	Eastern White Pine- Photo courtesy of Robert Mohlenbrock USDA NRCS

Monitoring Common Grackles

Common Grackles, like their name implies, are a rather common species. The total Common Grackle population, throughout their range, is estimated to be nearly 97 million birds. It’s because of their ubiquitous nature that Common Grackles may serve as good indicators of how other bird populations are doing locally and abroad. Declines in Grackle populations may help us identify potential pressures to more restricted or locally threatened species. You can help monitor Grackles in your neighborhood by getting involved with a monitoring program like the ones below, or volunteering at a bird-banding station near you.

• Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas

• eBird

• Great Backyard Bird Count

• Christmas Bird Count

• Urban Bird Studies

• Ohio Bird Banding Association