Sue, I would go with the types of feeders that the grackles won't like so much. You know, the kind the birds have to hang off of, hang upside down from, or crawl into small places to get their treat. The nuthatches and chickadees love those round globe feeders with the holes in the sides. They are about the only birds that will feed from them on a regular basis because the bird's body has to be a certain length to be able to perch on the edge of the hole and still get the head and body forward 'though' the hole. House Finches and Gold Finches will give it a go too but they are just a titch too long in the body to do it comfortably. Grackles would in NO WAY be able to perch or feed from these feeders. They are sold by the company called Yule-Hyde and this is what they look like: Other feeders that feed birds in ways that grackles may not like are the feeders that exclude the larger birds but allow the little winter birds to feed safely: For your finch feeder and suet feeder choose a variety that feeds the birds upside down to exclude the grackles: One more thing that might help is a "dome" to go over your feeders. Most of the larger birds don't like to have to go "underneath" something to get to their food and most domes you can buy today are adjustable so that if you lower it too far, you can raise it up and if that's too far you can put it down a notch so the distance between the feeder and dome are just right to let in the species you want and keep out the undesirable species. Here's a recent thread on the domes: http://nature.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bird/msg111749196145.html?8 After moving to my new house with a woodland backyard I also learned quickly that metal feeders are the only way to go. They cost a bit more but the squirrels can't ruin them. An all metal feeder that might work great against grackles is the "No No Feeder". It's all metal with wire mesh sides and depending on which version you buy, the perch is either wider or narrower. These come in a variety of colours like bright red, forest green, copper, galvanized steel etc... and fold completely flat for off season storage. Here's an example: Once you keep your grackles off the feeders they may be content to nip away at stuff on the ground or just move on to better pastures. It's been 3 weeks now and still not a single House Sparrow on our feeders. Not only have their been no house sparrows but there's been no sightings of grackles or starlings which are a SUPREME NUISSANCE at our feeders normally. They usually perch, dip their beaks in the seed and sift back and forth until the entire feeders are emptied and spilled to the ground. So far this year there's been NONE. I'm SOOOOOOO pleased and the birds are loving it that they aren't harassed by those nasty HOSPs. Barb

I wish I had a DRST...but they are expensive. I don't have many HOSP that try to nest in our yard but there are tons around as there is a car dealership next door and they nest over there. They come to eat at my feeders when their nestlings fledge and I know at that time I could probably trap tons of them. There will be 30+ in the yard then. Ugh. However during the rest of the year there will only be a few coming through at a time. I did have a couple pairs interested in my nestboxes this year...got both of those males and about 4 others with the BB gun. One year there were fledglings around and one was sitting on a branch with the mother right behind it. I shot with the BB gun and got both with one BB! I always put up sparrow spookers as soon as the first egg is laid on the Blues boxes. Last year I lost two TRES nestlings to a HOSP, two more were pecked but made it and two were unharmed. I put up a spooker on that box and those four made it to fledging just fine. I don't normally put spookers up on the TRES boxes because there are just too many of them. I only have two spookers and usually have eleven nestboxes with TRES. Hate those dang HOSP.

Sorry to hear this Tim. If I were you I would remove the HOSP nest and hope the blues return. I doubt you will get the female HOSP now that the male has left. In my experience with TRES I see them highly motivated to run off any bird in paired boxes when they are nest building. Once they are laying/incubating and feeding nestlings they focus much more on that then defending the other box. I have lots of paired boxes and that is what I have found anyway. As far as the Blues letting the HOSP take over the box...well they know they cannot win I suppose, no eggs or nestlings to defend so it is hard to say. I think each bluebird is different too on how hard they defend things. This year I have a hugely territorial male, never had one like this before. He has chased off my chickadees and is trying to chase off all the Tree Swallows in the yard. He is defending four nestboxes, two of these are 65 yards or so from the box they have eggs in. Nothing will be nesting in the box paired 35 feet from the blues nestbox...he won't allow it. The chickadees weren't even house hunting, just trying to eat out of the birdfeeders and he won't allow it. A couple times I have seen a HOSP come to the feeder and I quickly try to get the bb gun but the Male bluebirds chases it away before I can even think about it. He won't stop chasing until it is out of the yard too. I am curious to see if he calms down a bit once the eggs hatch which should be next week. Good luck to you, hope your blues can get down to business now that that HOSP is gone. Donna

Donna. They are dangerous. I have tons of HOSP here, probably close to 100 sometimes in the row of trees that separate my property from my neighbors. I trap vigorously with a DRST and an inbox Van Ert trap in the spring. There's constantly battles going on. I also use a sparrow spooker after the first egg is laid in each box. If you don't take care of these, you'll have tons more in a very short amount of time. I've already trapped 167 this year and it doesn't look like I've made a dent. So far they've been manageable, although I do think they took out 2 or 3 of my TRES eggs before I was able to get a spooker up. I'd much rather have a HOSP that I can battle than that pesky house wren that sneaks in and pecks the eggs..spookers don't phase them. Tammy