You can help feed wild birds by setting up a few bird seed feeders with their favorite bird seeds. To be successful at feeding wild birds it is best to know what bird seed each type of wild bird prefers. Use this list of bird seed varieties and names of common bird species to learn what each type of bird prefers to eat. Match up the types of wild birds you see foraging in your yard with their preferred bird seed. This will give you a good idea of what types of bird seed to purchase for the wild birds that inhabit your yard and surrounding vicinity.
Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
Black oil sunflower seeds can attract many different types of bird species, which makes it a good seed to keep on hand. The high oil content is very nourishing and appeals to jays, grosbeaks, woodpeckers, titmice, finches, sparrows, chickadees and cardinals. You can purchase bags of this bird seed from stores and it is easily grown in gardens.
Cracked Corn
Cracked corn is often mixed in commercial bags of seed mixes or can be purchased individually. This comes in different grind sizes, which makes it ideal for feeding large verses smaller sized birds. Grackles, quail, starlings and several medium to large sized ground-feeding birds enjoy cracked corn. Cracked corn is an excellent source of starch and oil in addition to being inexpensive. You can grow your own garden corn let it dry and break up the kernels to feed cracked corn to the wild birds each winter.
Commercial Bird Seed
You can purchase commercial birdseed and some species of birds will pick out their favorite seeds. However, the majority of commercial bird seed blends are loaded with fillers such as wheat, millet and milo. These offer little food value and are not appealing to most birds. If you use this type of bird seed it is best to augment it with higher quality bird seed like sunflower seeds, niger or thistle seeds and cracked corn.
Hulled Sunflower Seeds
One of the best types of bird seed that you can feed is hulled sunflower seeds. They contain great amounts of calories and are very rich in oil. Songbirds such as chickadees, titmice, cardinals, sparrows and finches all enjoy these nutritious seeds.
Millet
Millet is generally fed to smaller birds such as towhees, sparrows, buntings, juncos and finches. This grass seed is high in starch and can easily be grown in home gardens to feed smaller sized birds.
Niger/Thistle
Niger seed is also called thistle and it is an oil-rich seed that the smaller bird species of juncos, goldfinches and siskins enjoy. If spread across the ground larger sized finches and quail will also benefit.
Premium Bird Seed
Large sized songbirds such as woodpeckers, cardinals and jays all thrive on premium bird seed. A good mix contains pumpkin seeds, black oil sunflower seeds, peanuts and corn.
Milo
Most commercial bird seed contains white or red milo as a filler. It contains lower nutritional values for most birds and they usually do not eat it and knock it to the ground. Pheasants, wild turkeys and doves actually enjoy it as a favorite food while other species ignore it.
Safflower
Safflower is most appealing to cardinals, titmice and doves. Other songbirds may eat it if their preferred diet of sunflowers is not available.
Try feeding wild birds with these bird seed recommendations. Feeding your wild birds is a great way to ensure they have a hearty, nutritious meal.
Sources:
http://birding.about.com/od/birdfeeders/ig/Types-of-Birdseed/
http://www.shawcreekbirdsupply.com/seed_preference.htm
