Identify the type of seed required to attract wild birds into your backyard and stock your feeders with quality wild bird seed for maximum success. Selecting high-energy foods ensure that all types of wild bird are catered to.
Consider purchasing bird seed mixes containing desirable varieties such as sunflower and millet. Avoid lower-quality mixes that contain too much filler material like milo or cracked corn – these will likely be less attractive to birds and could wastefully fill your bird feeders.
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Nyjer Seed
Nyjer Seed is one of the most sought-after bird seeds to add to a backyard feeder, providing wild birds with an energy source rich in both protein and fat.
These tiny black seeds come from an African daisy flower (Guizotia abyssinica), and can often be misidentified as thistle seeds due to their appearance. However, thistle seeds should never be confused for these tiny ones!
They are an immensely popular wild bird food source that provide high-energy and nutrient-rich diets to many non-migratory finch and small birds such as goldfinches, purple finches, house finches, redpoles and pine siskins.
Finches are agile birds that cling to feeders in order to swoop down on tiny nyjer seeds, and are particularly fond of ground-dwelling dark-eyed juncos and other ground birds. Finch feeders designed for dispensing these seeds have extremely small feeding ports so only finches can access them inside.
Black Oil Sunflower Seed
Black Oil Sunflower Seed is the perfect way to attract a wide range of wild birds, as its high oil content provides extra energy for these feathered friends.
Nesting boxes can also make an excellent food source, as smaller birds such as finches and chickadees can easily break open these containers to find protein, calcium, iron and vitamin B complex. Plus, these tasty treats provide birds with lots of fun play!
Sunflowers can thrive in your backyard with full sunlight and well-draining soil, plus some watering from time to time (even though they’re drought tolerant).
As soon as the flower heads have transformed into seeds, you have two options for harvesting them: either store them for later use in your feeders or leave them on the plants and allow birds to enjoy eating them directly.
White Millet Seed
Millet bird seed is an nutritive bird seed that’s low in fat and packed full of essential vitamins, minerals and proteins – helping reduce stress during molting, weaning and breeding processes.
Wildlife Bird Feeder is an excellent choice for wild birds, particularly ground-feeding species like quail, juncos, cardinals and sparrows. You can easily spread out or pour the feed directly into a tube feeder to draw various types of species into your garden or backyard.
White proso millet is an excellent source of high protein content. Ground feeding birds such as quails, native American sparrows, doves, juncos and cardinals love it as an afternoon meal!
Millet can be problematic because it attracts house sparrows and brown-headed cowbirds – two pest species common across many areas – which feed off it, becoming pests themselves. Millet may also attract other birds such as nest parasites or “bully” species like grackles, starlings or western jays which feed off it as food source.
Sunflower Seed Blends
Sunflower seed blends can help attract a wide range of birds to your feeders by offering an assortment of seeds preferred by most species of wild birds.
Sunflower seeds come in both black oil and striped varieties (see below). Black oil sunflower seeds feature small, thin shells which allow birds to easily open them up; additionally they provide essential protein and fat nutrients that will help birds through winter.
Striped sunflower seeds feature thicker shells that are harder for smaller birds to break apart, which makes them popular among heavy-billed species such as cardinals. Furthermore, their less costly nature makes them ideal for anyone wanting to provide different seeds to different birds in their yard.
Safflower, though unfavorable to birds due to its hard white shell, makes an excellent option for attracting birds without taking up much space in a backyard. It contains high levels of protein and fat which make it the ideal option.
