Birds need high-energy foods during the harsh winter nights. Suet, made of beef fat, attracts woodpeckers and wrens alike and can be purchased relatively cheaply at stores; alternatively you can make suet cakes yourself at home. Mild grated cheese may also draw robins and titmice towards it.
Black oil sunflower seeds draw in many seed-eating birds, while striped sunflower seeds particularly appeal to grosbeaks and finches. Other seeds often included in cheaper blends are millet and cracked corn; both attract house sparrows and doves in particular.
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Fruit
Fresh or dried fruit provides healthy nutrition to most wild birds, such as apples, oranges, bananas, pears and more. Just be wary about offering fruits with seeds or pits as these may present a choking hazard to our feathered friends.
Birds also enjoy eating mashed bananas, which you can provide to them via feeder, flat surface or garden. When offering ripe bananas, make sure that their peel is removed, as it contains cellulose that birds cannot digest.
Peanut Butter
Birds love peanut butter as it contains both proteins and fats. Wild bird-specific peanut butter has been designed to be low in salt content so it will not harden around their bills.
Bird food contains ingredients birds find beneficial, such as lard and beef suet, that make it a highly-nourishing energy source that should be fed year-round; though feeding may increase in winter.
People peanut butter may contain salt that’s bad for birds, so choose unsalted varieties instead. Best to offer with fruit, seed mixes or chunks of beef suet as it will be easier for birds to digest it.
Vegetables
Birds that feed on seeds will enjoy eating various vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and carrots; cucumbers also draw many species.
Kale, spinach and collard green leaves provide many essential vitamins and nutrients, while sliced fennel stalks make a delicious addition to any veggie mix. Celery stalks should be consumed sparingly as their water content makes them high-moisture foods.
Stale cake, biscuits and broken pieces of cheese may all attract birds in small quantities; however, foods containing too much salt or strong spices should be avoided. Eggshell scraps provide excellent sources of protein for breeding birds.
Cooked Eggs
Cooked eggs provide wild birds with an extremely nourishing food source. Rich in protein and packed full of vital vitamins such as A, L, Choline and Zeaxanthin as well as abundant amounts of calcium, they make an excellent food choice.
Researchers once believed that cooked eggs were high in cholesterol; however, recent research has disproved this notion. Furthermore, cooked eggs provide an excellent source of vitamin D which many wild birds lack in their diets.
Save your boiled eggshells and crush them up as food for birds – they contain calcium which both young and adult birds need for optimal development.
Stale Bread
Birds have small stomachs, making it imperative they take full advantage of every feeding opportunity. Feeding bread that isn’t necessary will only end up filling their small tummies up further and keeping them from taking in essential vitamins and nutrients they require for life.
Overpopulation could occur as birds return to a spot too frequently for sustenance and shelter, leading to disease and even death of some birds. Furthermore, food that has gone bad can make birds sick.
As an alternative to bread, wild birds may benefit from other nutritious sources like stale cereal (no added sugar) and toasted oats. Simply be sure to feed these items out in small quantities until they have all been eaten up by birds.
Cheese
Cheese can be consumed safely by birds, but should not comprise an insignificant part of their diet. Like other dairy products, cheese contains lactose which may cause digestive upset in some instances if fed excessively.
Cheese, especially grated varieties, is a favorite food of wrens, dunnocks, and blackbirds. Grated cheese makes an especially appealing winter food source when birds need to store fat for survival.
Kitchen scraps that make great bird food include stale bread, cake or biscuits (without frosting), windfall fruit and soaked, dried fruit – just be sure they do not contain ingredients which could be toxic or harmful to birds.
Pasta
Birds need carbohydrates in their diet in order to stay energized. Leftover pasta or rice are great ways to satisfy this need; just avoid leaving out dishes with heavy sauces, strong spices or chunky cheese as this could become dangerous for birds to consume.
As with bread and biscuits, offering stale baked goods like bread, biscuits and cakes as snacks to birds is acceptable, just avoid anything with sugary frosting or jellies. Potatoes make an excellent alternative as do vegetables such as peas and sweetcorn – just ensure not to offer too salty canned foods!
