Feeding songbirds premium food year-round is one of the most satisfying backyard hobbies you can undertake. Your feeders will soon become full with visitors from this vibrant species! Offering premium seed blends is sure to draw them all year-long.
Avoid feeding bread or table scraps that will quickly spoil and breed bacteria that could harm or even kill birds, as well as leaving fruit out that might attract squirrels or other predators.
Sunflower Seeds
Sunflower seeds are one of the most beloved bird feeder seeds, providing delicious treats for songbirds of all kinds. As high-energy food sources, these tasty seeds also reduce waste while drawing in birds such as wrens who have difficulty cracking open seeds. Unfortunately, shells can quickly spoil and harbor bacteria; so for best results store in cool, dark storage where sunlight cannot harm them.
Some feeder owners opt to offer sunflower kernels rather than shelled sunflower seeds, as these provide superior nutrition to backyard songbirds. Sunflower kernels contain protein, plant-based fats and vitamin E to boost immunity while offering whole seeds may cling to the ground under your feeder and inhibit grass or garden plant growth.
When purchasing whole sunflower kernels, opt for unseasoned or unsalted varieties as these tend to be healthier than salted ones, which contain higher sodium concentrations that could outweigh their nutritional benefits.
Sunflower seeds provide essential nutrition beyond protein, plant-based fats and Vitamin E; such as fiber, heart-healthy fatty acids and phytochemicals. Furthermore, they’re allergy-friendly – an ideal choice if you or your child has peanut or tree nut allergies.
Selecting an optimal mix of premium songbird food can help attract a wide range of birds to your backyard. A mixture of black oil sunflower seeds, other nutritious seeds and nuts, as well as fruit pieces will give your feathered friends enough energy for a successful season. Kaytee Nut & Fruit blend offers high energy black oil sunflower seeds along with other beneficial ingredients to create an ideal songbird habitat in any backyard.
White Proso Millet
Millet, particularly white proso millet, is an extremely nutritious seed popular with ground-feeding birds such as sparrows and doves. Packed full of proteins, carbohydrates and minerals, millet provides food sources that small birds cannot otherwise access; additionally it’s often added to mixed bird feeds to supplement feed for birds that cannot access larger seeds; millet also blends well with black oil sunflower seed blends which attract an array of songbird species more effectively than any other combination.
Red proso millet, less frequently seen in mixed bird seeds, is typically eaten by large ground-feeding birds such as pheasants and quails. It is frequently included in nut and fruit-based mixes due to its high energy content; helping wildbirds meet their energy demands.
Millet can be found in most general seed mixes, although it shouldn’t be seen as the mainstay ingredient. Instead, more nutritious seeds such as black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, safflower seeds and peanuts often make up this all-year general songbird mix like Pennington Pride Nut & Fruit Blend that attracts chickadees, pine siskins and indigo buntings among others.
Wagner’s Songbird Select is an all-year general bird feed consisting of both black oil sunflower seeds and white proso millet that will attract songbirds that prefer hopper or gazebo feeders.
This premium seed blend boasts all-natural ingredients that songbirds find highly appealing, including black oil sunflower seeds and hulled sunflower seeds as well as white proso millet, cracked corn and safflower seeds. This combination will appeal to cardinals, chickadees, grackles, blue jays and finches as perch feeders or ground feeders alike. In addition, there’s a generous supply of roasted peanuts and heat-treated thistle added as source of fats/protein to keep them coming back for more.
