How to Keep Starlings Off Suet Feeder Cages (and Grackles Off Seed)

How to keep starlings off suet feeder cages comes down to the shape of the feeder: use one that opens only from the bottom, so woodpeckers, nuthatches, and chickadees can cling upside down to feed and most starlings cannot. Then take away what draws the flock in the first place: corn, millet, bread, and kitchen scraps, open platform trays, and seed on the ground. Grackles respond to the same changes on the seed side. If a flock still takes over, pause the suet until it moves on. Everything here is nonlethal, and it has to be, because grackles are protected under federal law even though starlings are not.

This guide covers nonlethal ways to make feeders less useful to starlings and grackles. It is not legal advice and does not cover trapping, harming, or poisoning any bird. Federal and state rules differ by species; check with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or your state wildlife agency before taking any step beyond changing your feeders and food.

Starling or Grackle? Why It Matters

Both arrive in dark flocks, but they are different problems. Audubon’s field guide describes the European Starling as a short-tailed bird with a thin, straight bill, brought to North America in 1890, that usually forages in flocks and may gather in immense flocks in fall and winter. The Common Grackle has a long tail with a crease down the middle, whitish-yellow eyes, and a strong bill, and it usually forages in flocks when it is not nesting.

Their food habits split along the line that matters for a suet feeder. Penn State Extension‘s winter feeding table lists peanut butter, suet, and sunflower seeds as the European starling’s preferred foods, at suet feeders and platform feeders. The same table lists cracked corn and sunflower seeds for the common grackle, at platform feeders and tube feeders with a tray, and no suet. So in a typical yard, starlings are the suet problem and grackles are mostly a seed and tray problem. If dark birds are emptying your suet cage, look at the tail and bill before you change anything: a short tail and a thin, pointed bill point to starlings.

What Federal Law Says About Each Bird

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act prohibits the take, including killing and capturing, of protected migratory bird species without authorization, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service publishes the list of protected species. The Service’s current list includes the Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle, and Great-tailed Grackle. Starlings are on the other side of the line: a Fish and Wildlife Service notice says the European starling and house sparrow do not belong to families covered by the act, and adds that states and communities may protect nonnative species at their discretion.

In practice, that means a feeder fix that works on both birds has to be one that simply makes the food harder to reach. NestWatch makes the same point on its page about managing starlings, noting that it is illegal to harm or harass any native species, including their nests and eggs. A grackle is also not a bird to write off: Audubon’s field guide shows the Common Grackle as Near Threatened on the IUCN scale, even though it is widespread. Everything below works by changing feeders, food, and cleanup, and none of it requires telling the two birds apart in the moment.

Step 1: Use a Suet Feeder Starlings Cannot Hang From

Project FeederWatch says suet cages that are only accessible at the bottom tend to be starling-resistant while letting woodpeckers, nuthatches, and chickadees feed by clinging upside down, and its advice for anyone overrun by large birds is to provide suet in feeders that allow access only from the bottom. Nebraska Extension’s bulletin Selective Bird Feeding (EC1783) agrees that upside-down suet feeders, with the suet exposed only from underneath, let clinging birds feed while excluding starlings, grackles, and other unwanted birds, and adds that many of these large birds do not like to cling upside down or to land on unstable small perches.

Note the wording. FeederWatch’s feeder page says such cages “tend to be” starling-resistant, even though its tips section calls them starling-proof; we go with the more cautious word and plan on fewer starlings rather than none. Three details decide how well one works:

• No ledge to stand on. Perches, trays, and wide frames give a starling the footing it would otherwise lack, so the fewer of those around the cake, the better. That is our reading of Nebraska’s point about perching, not a finding stated in the bulletin.
• Open air underneath. Hang it clear of rails, branches, and seed feeders a starling could stand on while reaching up. The usual rules for hanging a suet cage, from height to window distance, still apply.
• A cage around the suet is another option. Nebraska says suet feeders enclosed in a cage resist access from starlings as well as squirrels.

If you are buying a suet feeder to replace a plain cage in a yard with starlings, put the bottom-only design first and the number of cakes second.

Step 2: Change the Food on the Rest of the Feeding Station

A suet feeder sits inside a feeding station, and a flock that comes for the seed will try the suet too. The sources agree on what to drop first. Nebraska Extension says starlings and grackles prefer corn and soft millet seeds that often form the bulk of seed mixes, and that bread, cereals, pastry, popped corn, and food scraps are a magnet for starlings and can attract large flocks. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bird feeding sheet says that if grackles, starlings, brown-headed cowbirds, or crows are hogging your feeders, you should feed only safflower and thistle seed, with thistle only in a feeder with upside-down feeding ports, and eliminate sunflower, millet, cracked corn, and bread. NestWatch adds that starlings like black-oil sunflower seed and suggests offering foods these birds do not appreciate, such as safflower for cardinals, nyjer for finches, and nectar for hummingbirds.

The sources differ on how reliable safflower is. Nebraska says grackles, starlings, House Sparrows, and squirrels usually avoid safflower but that this may not always be the case, and the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service says starlings eat it in some areas. We follow the cautious reading: drop corn, millet, sunflower, and anything bread-like while the flock is around, move the seed feeders to safflower and nyjer, and treat the switch as a trial in your own yard rather than a guaranteed fix. Fewer species will use a safflower-and-nyjer station; the sources describe that trade-off when they compare seed types.

What about the suet itself?

No source we read says that any kind of suet cake keeps starlings away; Penn State lists suet itself among their foods. What the sources do support is narrower. Many cakes are sold with seed pressed in, and if those seeds include the corn and millet Nebraska links to starlings and grackles, the cake offers them two foods at once. Our reading, not a finding from the sources: when starlings are a problem, choose cakes without corn and millet on the ingredient list, and rely on the feeder shape rather than the recipe.

Step 3: Take Away the Easy Places to Stand

Grackles and starlings feed best where there is room to land. FeederWatch’s advice for grackles, starlings, pigeons, and crows is to use feeders made for smaller birds, such as tube feeders with short perches and no catch basins on the bottom, to avoid platform trays, and not to spread food on the ground. It also notes that small hoppers keep larger species such as grackles from perching comfortably and taking over. Nebraska says caged feeders keep Common Grackles and European Starlings from reaching the seed, and Arkansas suggests lighter feeders designed for smaller birds that spin or tip when larger birds try to perch.

Weight-triggered feeders are the one design the sources disagree on. FeederWatch lists feeders that close under the weight of a large bird, and Nebraska says an adjustable one can be set to keep out common grackles. But Brome, a maker of weight-triggered feeders, states on the store pages for its Squirrel Buster Plus and its Squirrel Buster Suet that those feeders will not deter grackles or starlings. We follow the maker’s warning: a weight-triggered feeder is a squirrel tool, not a starling or grackle fix.

Step 4: Clean Up the Ground

Both birds feed on the ground. Audubon’s field guide says the starling forages mostly on the ground in open areas and the grackle forages mostly by walking on the ground, and NestWatch advises against scattering seed on the ground when you are trying to reduce starlings. Spilled seed under a feeder works the same way as seed you scatter on purpose. Rake or sweep under the station, empty any tray that collects seed, and cut down on spilled seed so less lands there in the first place. A suet feeder drops crumbs too, so include the ground under it.

Step 5: If a Flock Still Takes Over, Pause the Suet

Nebraska Extension warns that flocks of starlings can empty a feeder in just a few hours, and NestWatch’s advice for reducing starlings around a property includes not putting out suet at all. That is the fallback when the steps above are not enough: take the suet down, keep only safflower and nyjer out, keep the ground clean, and check every few days whether the flock has moved on. When you bring suet back, bring it back in a bottom-only feeder. No source we read gives a time of day or a number of days for this, so we do not suggest one; watch your own feeders instead.

Season can help with the decision. Audubon’s field guide says starlings may gather in immense flocks in fall and winter, and the Audubon Guide to Bird Feeding calls suet particularly helpful during cold weather and migration, so the flock season and the suet season overlap. If a pause in midwinter means giving up suet altogether, the bottom-only feeder from step 1 is the better first move.

What Not to Do

• Do not trap, net, or poison birds at the feeder. Grackles are on the federal protected list, and NestWatch notes that it is illegal to harm or harass any native species. This guide does not cover lethal control or removal of any species.
• Do not put out bread, cereal, or kitchen scraps. Nebraska calls these foods a magnet for starlings, and Arkansas says leftovers attract starlings and House Sparrows as well as rats, mice, and raccoons.
• Do not count on a label alone. Even FeederWatch says bottom-only suet cages only “tend to be” starling-resistant, and Brome says plainly that its weight-triggered feeders will not deter grackles or starlings.
• Do not leave a platform tray full. FeederWatch’s advice for large birds is to avoid platform trays entirely while they are a problem.

A Plan by Problem

How We Put This Guide Together

This guide is based on research, not on feeders we set up ourselves. We read Project FeederWatch, NestWatch, Audubon’s field guide accounts, Nebraska Extension, Penn State Extension, the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bird feeding sheet, its Migratory Bird Treaty Act pages and protected species list, and the store pages of one feeder maker, and kept only statements we could match to those pages. Where they differ, as on safflower and on weight-triggered feeders, we show both readings and follow the more cautious one. Our general standards are on the How We Review page.

Starling and Grackle FAQ

How do I get rid of starlings at my bird feeder without harming them?

Make the feeder less useful to them. Use a suet feeder that opens only from the bottom, drop corn, millet, bread, and scraps, avoid platform trays and ground feeding, and clean up spilled seed. If a flock still dominates, NestWatch’s advice is to avoid putting out suet for a while. None of this harms the birds, and all of it also works on grackles.

How do I deter grackles from a bird feeder?

Focus on the seed feeders, since Penn State’s table places grackles at platform feeders and tubes with trays rather than suet. FeederWatch suggests short-perch tubes without catch basins and small hoppers that keep grackles from perching comfortably, and Nebraska says caged feeders keep them from the seed. Because the Common Grackle is on the federal protected list, stick to changes like these.

What bird seed do grackles not like?

Safflower is the usual answer, with a caveat. The Fish and Wildlife Service sheet says blackbirds do not eat safflower, and Nebraska says grackles usually avoid it and that hard-shelled seeds such as striped sunflower and safflower often deter starlings and grackles. Nebraska also says this may not always be the case, so treat it as a trial. Penn State lists cracked corn and sunflower as the grackle’s foods, so those are the first seeds to drop.

Is there a starling proof bird feeder?

Treat the term loosely. FeederWatch calls bottom-only suet feeders starling-proof in its tips but says on its feeder page that they tend to be starling-resistant, and Nebraska says caged feeders, upside-down feeders, and short-perch feeders help thwart starlings that cannot cling upside down or to small perches. Read any “starling proof” claim on a product as the seller’s word and expect fewer starlings, not zero.

Final Thoughts

Starlings come for suet and sunflower; grackles come mostly for corn, sunflower, and open trays. Put suet in a feeder that opens only from below, move the seed feeders to safflower and nyjer while the flock is around, take away platforms and ground food, and keep the ground clean. If that is not enough, pause the suet rather than reaching for anything that could harm a protected bird. For more on feeders and setups, browse our Bird Feeders section.

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