Foods to Attract Wild Birds
There are as many varieties of bird seed mixes on the market as there are bird feeders. Many people feel that bird seed is bird seed and use price and quantity as the decision factor. What they don’t realize is that less expensive mixes may contain large amounts of cracked corn, rice, oats, flax, milo, buckwheat and canary seed.
Although birds have a variety of taste, for the most part they want black oil sunflower seeds. When you buy inferior bird seed mixtures you may find that the birds scatter most of the seeds on the ground trying to get at the sunflower seeds. If you do end up with cheaper bird seed it is better to place these mixtures on a flat platform feeder instead of a hopper style feeder. By doing this less of the seed will be wasted and on the ground.
Note: Seeds on the ground attracts some types of birds and squirrels, but also bring in the raccoons, mice and other critters.
Placement of Wild Bird Foods: Birds vary in size, shape, and everything else including where & how they like to feed. As a result, these two things are important to attract the largest variety of wild birds to your yard: 1- Variety of Seeds (the more varied the more different birds). 2- Vary how you place the seeds.
Some birds like to eat high up off the ground and others like to feed on the ground. Some birds like tube feeders and others like to eat off of a flat platform. 
Seeds that Wild Birds Love: Black Oil Sunflower Seeds: Cardinals, Finches, Goldfinches, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Grosbeaks, Pine Siskins, Juncos Thistle Seeds: Goldfinches, Purple Finches, Indigo Buntings, Pine Siskins, Redpolls Millet Seeds: Sparrows, Chickadees, Cardinals, Juncos, Towhees, Bunting, Mourning Doves, Pine Siskins Cracked Corn: Blue Birds, Bobwhites, Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Mourning Doves, Juncos, Indigo Buntings, Grosbeaks, Nuthatches, Towhees Safflower Seeds: Cardinals, Chickadees, Brown Thrashers, Nuthatches and Evening grosbeaks Peanuts: Blue Jays, Titmice, Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, Chickadees, Blue Birds, Kinglets, Mocking Birds, Indigo Buntings, Juncos, Warblers, and Towhees
Niger Seeds: Goldfinches, House Finches, Pine Siskins
One of the higher quality bird food seed packager and distributors is a company called Coles Wild Bird Seeds located in Georgia. One of their catchy slogans is” If you want cheap bird seed, buy any brand… If you want birds, buy Coles”. A few of their special mixes include the following:
Premium Blend: Black Oil Sunflower, Sunflower Meats, White Proso Millet, Cracked Corn, Canary Seed. If you only want to use one feed and attract the greatest variety of wild birds, then it's Premium Blend all the way. I guarantee you'll get the best combination of perch and ground feeding birds with this one. So, just fill up your feeder and stand back!
Special Feeder: Black Oil Sunflower, Sunflower Meats, Black Stripe, Sunflower, Raw Peanuts, Safflower, Pecans. Special Feeder has all of the good stuff. This unique mix is a high-energy treat for many birds. It's our most popular blend because it attracts the greatest number of wild birds than any other mix out there. Plus woodpeckers absolutely love the pecans!
Finch Friends: Sunflower Meats, Niger Seed, Canary Seed. Finch Friends is simply fantastic. It's the only finch mix developed for use in a regular tubular feeder! That's right, no special "thistle feeder" needed. Just fill up your everyday feeder with Finch Friends and soon beautiful goldfinches, purple finches, and pine siskins will be dining at your door.
Oil Sunflower: Our Oil Sunflower is the absolute highest-grade black oil sunflower available. It's over 99% pure and cleaned four times to ensure that you get more seed and fewer sticks. Plus it's positively chock full of oil. You want as much oil in your sunflower as you can get because that's what attracts the birds. So, our high-grade, high-oil sunflower means more birds at your bird feeder. 
The key to attracting lots of wild birds is to provide them with a variety of food in different presentations. Have fun!!! |
