Choosing Birdseed for Wild Bird Feeding

Bird watchers can enjoy feeding wild birds when they pick the best wild bird food. Use these suggestions to choose the best birdseed.Feeding wild birds not only benefits the birds that might be hungry, it brings joy to the bird watchers who can observe the birds as they eat. Simply sprinkling out breadcrumbs is not the way to feed the birds. With just a little knowledge, bird watchers can become familiar with the best foods to put in their wild bird feeders.

Winter Foods

Because of the scarcity of food in winter months, that is the time when the birds benefit most from the supplemental feeding that bird watchers can provide. The Humane Society recommends that bird watchers use the following wild bird seed during the winter months:

Black-oil sunflower birdseed is high in fat so it gives birds energy. Also the sunflower seeds are small and thin-shelled so that the smaller birds can crack them open without much problem.

White Proso Millet is high in protein.

Peanuts can be put in tube-shaped metal mesh feeders made for peanuts.

Suet cakes will fit in standard-size suet feeders. Bird watchers can make their own suet cakes or purchase them commercially.

Nyjer seed are small, so bird watchers should choose a tube feeder with small holes to keep the seeds from spilling.

Cracked corn is a good winter food, and medium-sized cracked corn works best.

credit

Other Seasons

For feeding wild birds in spring, summer, and fall, the Humane Society recommends certain foods and other items.

In the springtime, fruit along with baked and crushed eggshells make good foods for wild bird feeding. In addition, bird watchers can offer nesting materials like human hair, pet fur, pieces of string or yarn, and small strips of cloth.

In the summer when it is easier for birds to find their foods in the wild, the recommended feedings are nectar for hummingbirds and nyjer seed for goldfinches.

In the fall, foods like millet, peanuts, peanut butter, and suet cakes are good for the birds.

Avoid These Foods

Although it might seem like a good idea, bird watchers should not offer birds many of the foods that humans eat. For example, the Humane Society recommends that these “people foods” be avoided:

Bread does not provide any real nutritional value, and moldy bread could hurt the birds.

Chocolate is toxic for birds because it contains theobromine. Any foods with chocolate must be avoided.

Table scraps might not be safe for the birds. And the table scraps can attract mice or rats to the feeders.

Tips

Bird watchers who have problems with squirrels bothering the feeders can use squirrel proof bird feeders. A bird watcher can purchase or build a squirrel baffle to create a squirrel proof feeder.

References:

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/feeding_birds.html