Common Grackles in Missouri

Common Grackles live in Missouri all year. Cold winters with variable snow; ice storms can shut down natural food for days. That makes the cold months the time your yard matters most to them: their winter diet shifts toward waste grain and acorns.

Humid continental, from the Ozark Plateau in the south to prairie and river floodplains in the north.

Across Missouri, 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.

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

Of the regional native plants we track for Missouri, 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 Missouri's winter: Cold winters with variable snow; ice storms can shut down natural food for days.

Full diet breakdown for grackles · Best feeder for grackles