Common Grackles in Maryland

Common Grackles live in Maryland all year. Mild winters in the east with regular snow in the western mountains. That makes the cold months the time your yard matters most to them: their winter diet shifts toward waste grain and acorns.

Humid subtropical on the Chesapeake coastal plain, cooler in the Appalachian west.

Across Maryland, grackles typically nest from April–June. Nest site: bulky cup in dense conifers, often in loose colonies. Females lay 4–6 eggs, incubate for 13–14 days, and young leave the nest after 12–15 days.

Hot, humid summers around the Chesapeake.

• Common Grackles don't use nest boxes. Keep dense native shrubs and trees such as white oak, sugar maple for nest sites.
• Delay heavy pruning of shrubs until after June.

Of the regional native plants we track for Maryland, these 8 provide food or cover grackles use:

Grackles arrive in flocks and can dominate open feeders; weight-activated and caged feeders help keep smaller birds fed.

• Best foods: Cracked corn, Sunflower.
• In Maryland's winter: Mild winters in the east with regular snow in the western mountains.

Full diet breakdown for grackles · Best feeder for grackles