Feeding wild birds is a rewarding hobby for bird enthusiasts. To select the ideal bird seed for your yard, it’s essential to consider many factors when selecting quality options without empty hulls or excessive dust; similarly, steer clear from blends containing fillers like cracked corn or milo.
These ingredients may draw in unwanted visitors such as raccoons and bears, yet provide minimal nutrition value to songbirds.
Sunflower Seed
Sunflower seeds sold at most discount stores are an inexpensive and nutritious energy source that attract a range of wild birds, making them the go-to food source for overwintering species. When selecting seed blends for overwintering species, look for combinations including nyjer (a tiny black seed that small songbirds love), millet and other common bird attractants like sunflower seed.
Look for seed blends with an increased proportion of higher quality seeds like sunflower and millet compared to fillers like cracked corn and milo. Be wary of seed mixes containing excess dust or empty hulls as these may indicate mildew growth or insect infestation, such as signs such as clumps of worms and webbing, feces, or moths.
Premium blends often contain chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds and peanuts) or dried fruits such as cranberries and raisins to attract blue jays and woodpeckers. Furthermore, suet (a mixture of fats and nut butter used to bind seeds together into shapes suitable for feeding from suet feeders) may also attract blue jays and woodpeckers; the best suet mixes typically contain at least 85% seeds/grain content with no fillers like milo and wheat fillers like milo/wheat. Black oil sunflower seeds were more popular among our backyard bird feeders due to thin shells allowing most seed-eating birds crack them easily while producing minimal waste underneath their feeder compared with mixed options which could produce heaps of empty shells/small sticks from being left behind when not enough of this type of seed-eating birds could only crack thin shelled seeds from dropping out from being taken in.
Nyjer Seed
Nyjer seeds are ideal for goldfinches and other finches, offering thin shells that make eating them much simpler for small songbird beaks. Commonly found in finch mixes or canary seed blends that also include millet, these small seeds attract many birds such as chickadees, woodpeckers, sparrows, towhees, robins and buntings.
A few sprinkled on the ground beneath a sock feeder will attract goldfinches and other finches, or filling a hopper, platform, or hanging bird feeder with it will also work effectively – though keep in mind that seeds spoil quickly so replenishing frequently is advised!
If you don’t want to invest in an expensive nyjer feeder, try providing birds with a mixed seed blend with a high percentage of black oil sunflower seeds instead. This will attract a wide range of birds – and may attract pine siskins and cardinals too! When selecting a bird feeding blend, be wary of fillers like milo or cracked corn that may attract birds but could spoil your seeds quickly. When inspecting seeds before feeding them out make sure there are no dust mites, empty hulls or debris present as fresher seed will bring more birds while being less costly than spoilage costs!
Safflower Seed
Safflower seeds are small, white and angular like black-oil sunflower seed and enjoyed by finches, chickadees, nuthatches, grosbeaks, pine siskins, cardinals, finch eaters, nuthatches, grosbeaks, pine siskins and cardinals. At moderate pricing they’re an excellent way to attract finches while simultaneously warding off larger birds like blackbirds, grackles or doves; squirrels typically shy away from these seeds!
Safflower seed’s only drawbacks are its slower eating speed and windy weather resistance – two reasons many birders choose hopper or tray feeders when providing this seed to birds.
Select a seed blend with a higher ratio of popular seeds such as millet and sunflower, rather than those containing fillers such as cracked corn, milo, oats, wheat and other grains that birds don’t enjoy as much. Check your seed for empty hulls, excessive dust, mildew mold infestation or insect infestation (clumps moths webbing feces etc), since fresh high quality seeds won’t have these issues.
