Wild birds have distinct preferences when it comes to what seeds they will eat, so offering the wrong type of seed could prove detrimental for your backyard visitors.
Cheap bird seed mixes often contain fillers such as milo and millet, which are unpalatable to many bird species and waste a lot of seed during harvesting.
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Sunflower Seed
Sunflower seed is a staple in wild bird food. It provides high levels of protein, fats and calories which help birds maintain a healthy weight.
These seeds are an excellent source of essential vitamins and minerals like calcium, iron, vitamin E and vitamin B. They make for great additions to bird feeders as they attract all sorts of wild birds – from small songbirds like finches or chickadees, to larger species like cardinals and blue jays.
Hulled sunflower seeds are an easy and convenient option, available year-round at many local feed stores. Since they can easily be separated from their hull, these no-waste options make great alternatives to conventional fertilizers.
Millet
Millets are a high-protein, low-fat seed that provides birds with essential nutrients. Furthermore, they help ease stress, making them an ideal treat for molting or weaning young birds.
Millet is an ideal choice for feeding birds that prefer ground-feeding seeds, like sparrows, juncos and finches. Additionally, millet can be added to seed mixes in order to attract a wider variety of birds.
White proso millet is the most common variety of this small, round seed and often features in mixed bird seed blends. It is especially popular among ground-feeding birds such as oil sunflower lovers, but less so for perch feeders like goldfinchs.
Safflower
Safflower is an annual that produces high-protein, fat-rich seeds. They’re slightly smaller than sunflower seeds and have a hard white shell protecting the meat inside.
Cardinals, chickadees, grosbeaks and doves all enjoy them as food sources. Additionally, small finches like American Goldfinches, Lesser Goldfinches and Indigo Buntings flock to them in abundance.
Safflower seeds have a bitter taste and unique shape that make them an effective deterrent to squirrels. If you’ve had trouble with squirrels jumping on or eating your feeders, safflower may help get them away from your food source.
Safflower can be used in hopper and platform feeders for most species of birds. Cardinals prefer tube feeders with large perches, while grosbeaks and chickadees usually eat from a hopper or tray feeder. Other small birds such as mourning doves and native sparrows also enjoy safflower.
Rapeseed
Rapeseed (Brassica napus) is an aromatic yellow flowering plant from the Brassicaceae family, grown mainly for its oil-rich seeds.
It thrives in a variety of soils and can tolerate salt. Therefore, farmers looking to increase their crop yield and produce high-quality oil should consider this variety as an ideal option.
Rapeseed oil can be used as a cooking oil due to its low saturated fat content and higher monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Furthermore, it contains omega-3 fatty acids which may help lower blood cholesterol levels and protect against heart disease.
It also has a higher smoke point than other oils, making it ideal for high-heat cooking methods like deep-frying or stir-frying. This makes butter an attractive alternative since butter tends to be too high in saturated fat for some people’s diets.
Canary Seed
Health Canada conducted a scientific assessment to determine whether hairless hull varieties of canary seeds could be sold as food in Canada.
Canary seed, also known as Phalaris canariensis, has been used for bird feed for centuries and is the world’s most widely consumed bird seed. Not only does it provide high-quality protein and amino acids to birds, but it also contains essential vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients essential to their healthy development.
Canary seed is often soaked to make it more appealing to birds and also serve as a replacement for oats or wheat. Soaking helps break down complex carbohydrates, increasing digestibility of canary seed for birds.
