Your choice of seed can have an enormous influence on the types of birds who visit your feeders. Avoid offering bread, table scraps or expired vegetables and fruits.
Foods containing little nutritional value for birds tend to attract cats and squirrels as well as other pests; using high-quality bird feed is the solution to these issues.
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Flavor
If squirrels are eating your expensive wild bird seed, try switching over to something designed specifically for birds. A premium blend of sunflower hearts, high-energy peanuts, safflower seeds and mealworms mixed with fiery capsaicin is designed specifically to keep squirrels away while also deterring other mammals attracted to feeder stations like raccoons, chipmunks, pigeons and others from visiting your feeder station. When this product first hit the market birding organizations were initially skeptical; now many agree it is completely safe without adversely impacting wildlife health or harm and creating an ideal setting in any backyard cafe!
This product comes in 2-lb and 4-lb resealable bags containing approximately 30 oz of mix in each one.
Nutrition
Birds require foods rich in proteins and fats when hunting or foraging in the wild or feeding at your feeder, whether hunting for prey in nature or feeding on feeder offerings. Their fast metabolisms burn off thousands of calories daily during breeding seasons and flight season as well as in winter.
Seeds like black oil sunflower and striped sunflower seeds provide essential protein, fat, and other essential nutrients necessary for birds’ survival. These seeds come either with their shell intact or without it (known as “hulled”); the latter being less expensive but attracting birds like grackles, blackbirds, and sparrows who cannot open the shells themselves.
Other seeds like nyjer are abundant with protein and fiber as well as calcium, iron and other essential minerals for birds. Also referred to as finch seeds, these tiny gems are immensely popular among various bird species and make an excellent addition to bird feeders for variety of feathered friends. Be wary of feeds containing excessive millet though; its low nutritional value means it may waste energy when trying to consume other more nutritious seeds, nuts and vegetables instead.
Squirrel Deterrent
There are various strategies for using hot wild bird seed as a squirrel deterrent. One method involves adding cayenne pepper or another type of chilli powder before scattering your birdseed; this works because mammals like squirrels possess taste buds that can detect capsaicin, which they cannot digest. Therefore, they will avoid eating the seeds at your feeders altogether and ultimately be turned off from eating any birdseed at your feeders.
An alternative approach would be to opt for wet chili oil rather than powder or flakes as this will cling more easily and last longer, plus be less messy than powders or flakes.
There are also birdseed mixes designed specifically to start out spicy, so that you don’t need to add your own chilli. Just be sure to wear rubber gloves while handling this as it could be an eye or nose irritant and wash your hands after using it. If baffles or squirrel proof feeders aren’t an option for your yard, this serves as an effective squirrel deterrent that allows you to feed birds unhindered.
Attracts Birds
Birds are drawn to native shrubs and trees in your garden for other reasons than feeders alone; ensure yours offers these too! Not only do native plants offer shelter, nesting sites and foraging opportunities but they may even serve as nesting materials!
Suet (beef fat) should be provided as supplemented foods to attract insect-eating birds like woodpeckers and wrens; place this food in special feeders, net onion bags five feet off the ground, or crevices of large pinecones. In summer months, peanut butter should also be placed inside holes drilled into logs or the cracks of stumps to attract chickadees and nuthatches.
Offering nyjer seed, also referred to as thistle seed (but unrelated to the toxic thistle plant), will attract finches and sparrows. You can purchase this alone or combined with sunflower seeds and cracked corn in combination feeders. To attract northern cardinals specifically, place out feeders containing either striped or black oil sunflower seeds separately.
