Songbird wild bird seed can help bring birds of various species right into your backyard. When selecting seed for your area and season, make sure it matches up perfectly.
There are various kinds of bird feed available, but for optimal results it is often a mixture of milo, cracked corn, millet and black oil sunflower seeds.
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Sunflower Seed
Sunflower seeds are an excellent source of energy and packed full of essential vitamins, minerals and fatty acids that provide energy and endurance boost. In addition, sunflower seeds contain high concentrations of antioxidants which may help combat inflammation as well as chronic illness.
Nut-allergic individuals will find them an ideal food choice since they contain neither peanuts nor nuts. Enjoy them raw or roasted, season with salt and pepper or flavor them however you like!
Seeds provide an easy and cost-effective way to add fats into your diet; one serving of shelled sunflower seeds provides 14 grams of healthy fatty acids. This balance can help provide benefits against conditions like heart disease and cancer.
Black oil sunflowers differ from most birdseeds by having an extremely thin shell that allows most birds to open with ease, as well as being high in fat content for winter birdseed needs.
Safflower Seed
Safflower is an annual thistle-like plant that thrives in arid environments, producing seeds rich in protein and fat that are used to make cooking oils.
Safflower seeds are a favorite among cardinals, jays, chickadees, grosbeaks, doves and native sparrows as well as other bird species like finches like American Goldfinches, Lesser Goldfinches and Pine Siskins.
Safflower seeds may be difficult for some birds to crack open, yet cardinals and other sunbirds often enjoy it as an alternative to sunflower hearts and chips which quickly spoil and contain harmful bacteria.
Safflower seed can be fed in any feeder that accommodates sunflower seeds, such as hoppers, tube feeders and platform feeders. Or toss a small amount near shrubby areas where ground-feeding birds like doves and quail may gather.
Millet Seed
Millet seed is an extremely popular birdseed found in most mixed food mixes for backyard birds. Resembling tiny kernels of popcorn, millet is especially favored among ground feeders that spend their days feeding on ground-level vegetation.
Millets are an ancient plant originally from Africa and Asia that are now grown worldwide due to their high nutritional and fiber content, low water requirements, and drought tolerance – characteristics which make millets ideal for wildlife habitat plantings or cover crop cover crop plantings.
Nutrient management and soil health benefits of cover crops can also be enhanced when planted as part of a mixed cover crop mixture, particularly one featuring various plant species and heights to maximize biodiversity benefits.
Proso and foxtail millet are the two primary bird seed species used for creating backyard bird seed mixes, although pearl and browntop millet may also be widely available and be utilized as alternatives.
Thistle Seed
Thistle seed, more commonly referred to by its nickname of “thistle,” is one of the most beloved forms of birdseed, offering essential energy sources to backyard birds. High in oil content makes this birdfood particularly valuable.
American goldfinches, common and hoary redpolls, house finches and purple finches and pine siskins enjoy feeding on this treat, as do smaller songbirds such as juncos, chickadees and titmice.
Seed can be served individually in a finch feeder or nyjer sock, mixed in a tube feeder or hopper or offered as part of a birder’s mix in small amounts using feeders designed specifically to accommodate its small size. Optimally, birders should offer thistle seeds in small quantities or utilize specially made thistle feeders designed specifically to provide them.
Oft neglected, thistle is the preferred food source of most finches including goldfinches and siskins. Highly nutritious yet highly satisfying, its tasty treats attract more species than many other seeds.
