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How to Choose the Right Birdseed for Your Birdfeeders

The kind of birdseed you offer in your bird feeders determines which birds you will attract to your garden. While nearly all birds will eat sunflowers seeds, mixing it up a little with a variety of seeds is sure to please the birds in your neighborhood.
Consider the most common birds in your location and offer the seeds they are known to prefer to attract and keep birds in your backyard.

Common Types of Birdseed


Striped Sunflower Seeds

Striped sunflower seeds
These seeds are the least expensive . While a wide assortment of birds happily eat striped sunflower seeds, they do not contain enough fat for feeding during the winter. Striped sunflower seeds are a good alternative during warm weather.

Black Oil Sunflower Seeds

black oil sunflower seeds
Black oil sunflower seeds are smaller and higher in fat content than striped sunflower seeds are. The high fat content supplies the energy birds need to keep warm during the cold winter months.Choose black oil sunflower seeds when the mercury drops in the fall and winter.

Sunflower Hearts

Sunflower Hearts
Sunflower hearts work well in feeders for small birds who may finding cracking the shell of sunflower seeds difficult. These "hot meats" have been coated with liquid habanero chili peppers to prevent squirrels from eating them. Because birds have a poorly developed sense of taste, they are not bothered by the hot flavor.

Finch Seed

Finch Seed
Finch food ranges from thistle or Nyjer seed to mixtures of tiny seeds just the right size for finches. Although finches will eat sunflower seeds, they prefer thistle seed or finch food.

Suet 

Suet
Suet attracts the stately woodpecker, but he's not the only bird who enjoys suet. Nuthatches, chick-a-dees, finches and blue jays also like suet and will eat it when the sunflower seeds are gone.

Wild Bird Seed Mixes

specialty birdseed
There are a host of specialty seeds designed to attract birds to your backyard. These range from suet balls and peanuts to wild bird seed mixtures with nuts and fruits.

Seed Preferences of Common Songbirds

Quail, Pheasants: Cracked corn, millet, wheat, milo
Pigeons, Doves: Millet, cracked corn, wheat, milo, niger, buckwheat, sunflower, baked goods
Woodpeckers: Suet, meat scraps, sunflower hearts/seed, cracked corn, peanuts, fruits, sugar solution
Jays: Peanuts, sunflower, suet, meat scraps, cracked corn, baked goods
Titmice, Chickadees: Peanut kernels, sunflower, suet, peanut butter
Nuthatches: Suet, suet mixes, sunflower hearts and seed, peanut kernels, peanut butter
Wrens, Creepers: Suet, suet mixes, peanut butter, peanut kernels, bread, fruit, millet (wrens)
Mockingbirds, Thrashers, Catbirds: Halved apple, chopped fruits, baked goods, suet, nutmeats, millet (thrashers), soaked raisins, currants, sunflower hearts
Kinglets: Suet, suet mixes, baked goods
Warblers: Suet, suet mixes, fruit, baked goods, sugar solution, chopped nutmeats
Cardinals, Grosbeaks: Sunflower, safflower, cracked corn, millet, fruit
Towhees, Juncos: Millet, sunflower, cracked corn, peanuts, baked goods, nutmeats
Sparrows, Buntings: Millet, sunflower hearts, black-oil sunflower, cracked corn, baked goods
Blackbirds, Starlings: Cracked corn, milo, wheat, table scraps, baked goods, suet
Finches, Siskins: Thistle (niger), sunflower hearts, black-oil sunflower seed, millet, canary seed, fruits, peanut kernels, suet mixes
Although baked goods are listed above in the food preferences, use caution with offering your birds too many baked goods or bread. It is filliing and eaten readily but it does not contain the nutrients your birds need. Always offer your birds a good source of protein in addition to bits of baked goods as a treat.

Copyright © 2014 Nannette Richford



  • Home
  • Garden Thyme Blog
  • Themes
    • Butterfly Gardens
    • Moon Gardens
    • Sensory Gardens
    • All About Fairies
  • Flowers
    • Annual Flowers >
      • Alyssum
      • Cosmos
      • Geraniums
      • Marigolds
      • Morning Glories
      • Nasturtiums
      • Petunias >
        • Reviving Petunias
      • Snapdragons
      • Sunflowers
      • Sweet Peas
      • Zinnias
    • Perennial Flowers >
      • Golden Glow (Rudbeckia laciniata ‘Hortensia’)
      • Lupines
      • Purple Coneflower (Echinacea Purpurea)
    • Maine Wildflowers
  • Veggies
    • Warm Season Vegetables >
      • About Beans >
        • Growing Beans
        • Growing Pole Beans
        • How to Make a Teepee Trellis
      • About Corn >
        • Growing Corn
        • What is Baby Corn, anyway?
        • Can you grow corn in containers?
      • Cucumbers >
        • Grow a cucumber in a bottle
        • Growing Pickling Cucumbers
        • Growing cucamelons (Mexican Gherkin)
        • Why do cucumbers blossom but fail to set fruit?
        • Trellising Cucumbers
        • Making Cucumber Relish
        • Powdery Mildew on Cucumbers
      • Melons
      • Peppers >
        • Growing Peppers
      • Squash >
        • Growing Zucchini
        • Spaghetti Squash
      • Tomatoes >
        • How to Harden Off Tomato Plants
        • How (and when) to Prune Tomatoes
        • Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt) for Tomatoes
        • Blossom End Rot in Tomatoes
        • Growing Cherry Tomatoes in Hanging Baskets
        • 4 Best Tomatoes for Short Seasons - Early Tomatoes
        • 5 Early Maturing Tomatoes for Short Season Gardening
        • How to Ripen Green Tomatoes
        • How to Make Sun-Dried Tomatoes at Home
        • How to Grow a Pomato Plant
    • Cool Season Vegetables >
      • Cole Crops
      • Greens >
        • How to Grow Spinach
        • How to Grow Malabar Spinach
        • How to Grow Swiss Chard
        • Harvesting and Cooking Beet Greens
        • How to Grow Microgreens
      • Onions & Garlic >
        • How to Grow Garlic
        • How to Grow Onions
      • Peas >
        • Growing Garden (shelling) Peas
        • Growing Sugar Snap Peas
      • Potatoes >
        • How to Grow Potatoes in Containers
        • How to Grow Potatoes in Hay Bales
      • Root Crops >
        • Growing Beets
        • How to Grow Carrots
        • Turnips vs Rutabagas
  • Herbs
    • Growing Basil
    • Growing Chives
    • Growing Lavender
    • Herbal Tea Garden
    • How to Grow a Culinary Herb Garden
    • How to Grow Herbs in Sponges
    • Colonial Herb Garden - Classroom Project
    • Herbed Butter
    • Making Herbed Oils
  • Gardening Basics
    • Seed Starting Basics
    • Grafting Basics
    • Soil >
      • Starting a New Garden
      • How to Prepare Soil
      • How to Test Soil Drainage
      • What Type of Soil Do You Have
      • Soil Mix Recipe for Containers
      • How to Make Compost Tea
      • How to Use Mulch
  • Garden Pests
    • How to Control Japanese Beetles
    • How to Control Blister Beetles
    • How to Get Rid of Colorado Potato Beetles
  • Birds
    • Hummingbirds >
      • DIY Hummingbird Feeders from Recycled Bottles
      • Annuals for Hummingbird Gardens
      • Perennials for Hummingbird Gardens
    • About Birdseed
    • Choosing a Birdfeeder
  • Fiddleheads and Fairies
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • How to Marinate Roasted Vegetables