Problem Solving

Is It Legal to Kill Grackles at a Bird Feeder?

No, not to protect a feeder. Federal law allows killing grackles, red-winged blackbirds and cowbirds without a permit only for crop or livestock feed damage, a health hazard, structural damage or listed species, after nonlethal methods first. The "nuisance" exception quoted online was deleted in 2014; Texas law kept it.

No, not to protect a bird feeder. Grackles, red-winged blackbirds and brown-headed cowbirds are federally protected, and the rule that lets you kill them without a permit, 50 CFR 21.150, covers only serious damage to crops or livestock feed, a health hazard, structural damage to property, or protecting a listed species. A flock emptying your feeder is none of those. The "no permit needed if they are a nuisance" line found online quotes wording the federal government deleted in 2014.

We read nine rules in their own text, plus the Federal Register history behind the federal one. How to stop a flock without breaking any of them is on grackles and blackbirds taking over. Check black birds identified first if you are unsure of the bird: the starling it is often mistaken for has no federal protection at all.

The rules we read#

Start with the "At a feeder" column.

No row lets you kill grackles because they eat your seed. Texas reads as if it does, and the next section explains why it does not.

Why the answers online disagree#

Search the question and you get two answers: "no permit is needed when they are a nuisance," and "it is illegal to kill grackles." Neither is current federal law.

"No permit if they are a nuisance." This was true once. The federal order for blackbirds and grackles dates from 1949; in 1972 it was widened to birds concentrated "as to constitute a health hazard or other nuisance." The 2013 edition of the rule, then 50 CFR 21.43, still said so. A rule published November 5, 2014 (79 FR 65595), effective December 5, 2014, replaced it with the list in force today. "Other nuisance" went, and so did ornamental and shade trees. A 2022 rule (87 FR 876) only renumbered 21.43 as 21.150 and changed the report form's number; the conditions did not change.

The old words survive in Texas law, which still uses them (below), and in pages that quoted it. A February 22, 2014 column in the Killeen Daily Herald quotes Texas Parks and Wildlife: "A permit is not required to control grackles … when these birds are considered a nuisance or causing a public health hazard." That matched federal law in February 2014. By December it did not.

"It is illegal to kill grackles." Bird-X, a deterrent maker, says: "Not only is it illegal to kill grackles, but here at Bird-X, we are strong advocates for humane bird control methods." For a feeder that is the right practical answer, but as law it is too broad: a farmer losing a crop, or an agency protecting an endangered bird, may kill them under the depredation order with no permit. The accurate version is illegal unless one of five situations applies, and a feeder is not one.

What the federal order actually allows#

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act makes it unlawful "by any means or in any manner, to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill" a listed bird or take its "nest, or egg," "unless and except as permitted by regulations." Every grackle, blackbird and cowbird found in the US is on the list in 50 CFR 10.13. The depredation order is one of those regulations, and it covers 14 species:

• Blackbirds: Brewer's, red-winged and yellow-headed.
• Cowbirds: bronzed, brown-headed and shiny.
• Grackles: boat-tailed, common, great-tailed and Greater Antillean.
• Crows: American, fish and northwestern (see is it illegal to feed crows).
• Magpies: black-billed only; the yellow-billed was removed in 2014.

Missing are the rusty blackbird and the tricolored blackbird (removed in 1989). Both are on the protected list, so the no-permit route never covers them.

Under section 21.150(b) a private citizen needs no federal permit only:

1. "Where they are causing serious injuries to agricultural or horticultural crops or to livestock feed."
2. "When they cause a health hazard or structural property damage."
3. To protect a federally "endangered, threatened, or candidate" species in a county where it occurs.
4. To protect a federally endangered or threatened species in its designated critical habitat.
5. To protect a species a state or tribe lists as "endangered, threatened, candidate, or of special concern," in that state or on that tribe's lands.

Why a bird feeder does not qualify#

Crops and livestock feed. Seed put out for wild birds is neither. The clause is about farms; the 2014 rule's example of a nonlethal method for the annual report is "netting placed over livestock feed from 1 November through 30 April."

Health hazard or structural damage. The order defines neither. But "other nuisance" sat right beside "health hazard" until 2014 and was deleted, so an annoyance that is not a hazard no longer counts. Noise, mess and a crowded feeder are annoyances. Droppings under a feeder are a job for cleaning up seed mess.

Protecting other birds. Grackles eat eggs and nestlings and cowbirds lay in songbird nests, so this is the one feeder owners reach for. The order covers only listed species, and the 2014 rule said that to protect other wildlife the public "will require a depredation permit." Cardinals, chickadees and house finches are not listed. The cowbird trapping people have heard of is a separate clause: federal, state and tribal employees protecting a listed species may trap cowbirds without trying nonlethal methods first. Homeowners are not in it.

Anything outside the five needs a depredation permit under 50 CFR 21.100, whose application must describe "the nature of the crops or other interests being injured" and "the extent of such injury."

The conditions if the order does apply#

Suppose a roost really is damaging a building, or you farm. Most people quoting the order leave out its conditions:

• Nonlethal first, every year. "Each calendar year, you must attempt to control depredation ... using nonlethal methods before you may use lethal control," such as "netting and flagging, the use of trained raptors, propane cannons, and recordings."
• Nontoxic shot. Only an air rifle or air pistol is exempt. The pre-2014 order also exempted .22 caliber rimfire guns; the current one does not.
• Traps must be checked "at least once every day," shaded above 80°F (27°C), with food and water, and healthy nontarget birds released promptly. A trap catches whatever walks in, as the house sparrow trapping page explains.
• Killing captured birds only "by carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide inhalation, or by cervical dislocation performed by well-trained personnel."
• No sale of any bird or part. Give it to a research or educational institution, or burn or bury it. Feathers are covered in is it illegal to keep bird feathers.
• An annual report on FWS Form 3-2436 to the regional migratory bird permit office "by January 31st of the following year," including nontarget birds caught.
• State law and any state permit still apply.

Breaking the federal rules is a misdemeanor with a fine of "not more than $15,000" or up to six months in prison, or both (16 USC 707(a)).

Texas: the nuisance clause that stayed#

Texas bans killing "a bird that is not a game bird" (64.002(a)) but lets "European starlings, English sparrows, and feral rock doves" be "killed at any time in any manner" (64.002(b)). Then subsection (c):

"A permit is not required to control yellow-headed, red-winged, rusty, or Brewer's blackbirds or all grackles, cowbirds, crows, or magpies when found committing or about to commit depredations on ornamental or shade trees, agricultural crops, livestock, or wildlife, or when concentrated in numbers and in a manner that constitutes a health hazard or other nuisance."

That is the 1972 federal wording, and it is why Texas is where the nuisance claim keeps coming from. But it only waives a state permit. The federal Act bans killing these birds "unless and except as permitted by regulations," and section 708 lets states give migratory birds "further protection," not less. A Texan still has to meet 21.150, which has no nuisance clause and does not cover rusty blackbirds at all. Breaking 64.002 is a Class C Parks and Wildlife Code misdemeanor (64.005). The feeder side of the state is on bird feeding in Texas.

California: no state route#

Fish and Game Code 3800(a) makes these birds nongame birds, and "it is unlawful to take any nongame bird except as provided in this code or in accordance with regulations of the commission." The commission's take rule, 14 CCR 472, allows "English sparrow, starling, domestic pigeon" to be taken "at any time of the year and in any number," and its only depredation clause is for American crows, in the old federal words again ("health hazard or other nuisance"). No grackle, blackbird or cowbird appears. Since the federal order requires compliance with state law, California adds a layer rather than removing one. We did not search the rest of the code for a state depredation permit. More on the state: bird feeding in California.

Canada and Ontario#

Canada. Environment and Climate Change Canada's list of protected birds (modified April 16, 2026) says "only some members of the family Icteridae (bobolink, meadowlarks, and orioles) are named in Article I, while the remainder (blackbirds, grackles and cowbirds) are excluded." They "might be protected under other laws," meaning the provinces.

Ontario. The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act (consolidated from March 30, 2026) bans hunting or trapping any wild non-game bird (s. 5(1)), but s. 5(2)(a) exempts six by name: "an American crow, brown-headed cowbird, common grackle, house sparrow, red-winged blackbird or starling." Brewer's, rusty and yellow-headed blackbirds stay under the ban.

Exempt is not the same as free to shoot. Section 6(1)(g) requires a licence to hunt or trap those six. Farmers and resident family may hunt them on the farm in the open season without one (6(3)(e)). For everyone else the route is section 31: if you believe "on reasonable grounds that wildlife is damaging or is about to damage" your property, you may harass, capture or kill it on your land, no more "than is necessary to protect the property" and without "unnecessary suffering." Grackles eating seed you put out for birds are hard to call damage. The provincial nest ban (s. 7) does not cover the six species' nests. Town feeder bylaws are on are bird feeders illegal in Canada.

What you can do without a permit#

Scare them. 50 CFR 21.100: "No permit is required merely to scare or herd depredating migratory birds other than endangered or threatened species or bald or golden eagles." It does not allow catching them.

Then change the feeder. A caged feeder with a grid of about 1.5 inches (4 cm) keeps grackles out and lets chickadees and finches through, short perches on a tube feeder leave a big bird nowhere to stand, and grackles reject safflower. Removing trays and ground food takes away what draws cowbirds. The full setup is on the grackles page.

Nests are separate: the Act protects the "nest, or egg," and 21.150 does not mention nests. See is it illegal to remove a bird nest.

Where this page stops applying#

• Other states we did not read. The order makes you follow state law and hold any state permit, so check yours.
• Local rules on firearms, air guns and trapping we did not read.
• "Health hazard" and "structural property damage" are undefined in the order, and nothing we read draws the line. If you think a roost qualifies, ask your regional migratory bird permit office.
• Other provinces, and Ontario's regulations under s. 6(4), which can add licence exemptions, we did not read.

This is a reading of statutes and regulations, not legal advice.