What to Feed Birds Article

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Different kinds of foods appeal to different kinds of birds. Here is an overview of food types and the birds they usually attract.

• Bird Seed

• Suet

• Nectar

• Natural Foods

• Other Foods

• Grit

• Water

• Bird Feeding Tips

Bird Seed

The variety of bird seeds and mixtures on the market is staggering. In most locations, however, the best all-around attractant is black-oil sunflower seed. This seed has a high meat-to-shell ratio; it is high in fat; and its small size and thin shell make it easy for small birds to handle and crack. (Striped sunflower seeds are larger and have thicker seed coats.)

Try starting with sunflower seeds, then experimenting with other seeds or mixtures. Read more about common seed types. Below is a table of bird species and their seed preferences. Remember that the table is a generalization, and that some bird species have different preferences in different parts of their ranges.

**Seed Preferences of common birds**
	Chickadees, Titmice, Nuthatches	Finches	Cardinals, Grosbeaks	Sparrows, Blackbirds	Jays
Sunflower	X	X	X	X	X
Safflower	X	X	X
Whole Corn				X	X
Millet		X		X
Milo					X
Niger		X
Suet	X				X

	Woodpeckers	Orioles, Tanagers	Pigeons, Doves	Indigo Buntings
Sunflower	x			X
Safflower
Whole Corn			X
Millet			X	X
Milo			X
Niger				X
Suet	X	X
Results based in part on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's 1995-96 Seed Preference Test, a National Science Experiment sponsored by the National Science Foundation

Suet

Suet is a good choice for attracting insect-eating birds such as nuthatches and woodpeckers. Most suet is beef kidney fat, which is inexpensive and available at many meat counters. Suet also can be purchased as processed cake that includes seeds, berries, and other ingredients. Be careful if you offer suet in hot weather; it may become rancid if it has not been specially processed. Commercial suet cakes are usually okay, but check the package before offering. A good warm-weather alternative is a mixture of one part peanut butter to five parts cornmeal.

Nectar

If you provide hummingbird feeders, you will need "nectar." To make nectar, add one part sugar to four parts boiling water (boil the water before measuring, because some water will be lost in the process.) When the mixture is cool, it is ready for use. You can store extra sugar water in your refrigerator for up to one week, but left longer it may become moldy. Adding red food coloring to nectar is unnecessary and possibly harmful to birds. Red portals on the feeder, or even a red ribbon tied on top, will attract the birds just as well.

Important: Change nectar every three to five days to prevent mold and deadly fermentation. NEVER use honey as a sweetener. It readily grows mold that can injure hummingbird tongues. Do not put any kind of oil around feeding portals to deter bees; you might contaminate the nectar. If bees or wasps become a problem, try moving the feeder.

Natural foods

Nothing provides an easier or more dependable food supply than "birdscaping" your yard with native vegetation. And with habitat loss being the leading cause of population declines in many bird species, planting native vegetation in your community is one of the best ways you can help improve the environment.

If you decided to landscape your yard for birds, start by choosing what birds you�d like to attract, then learn what plants they prefer. Remember that a variety of plants attracts the greatest diversity of bird species. Grow a variety of plants that bloom at different times, providing food throughout the year. Some plants to consider include perennials like black-eyed Susan and sunflowers for their flowers and seeds; tubular-shaped, nectar-producing flowers to attract hummingbirds; plants like cinnamon fern and thistle to provide soft nesting material; small trees and fruiting plants such as crabapples, dogwood, serviceberries, sumacs, and viburnum; conifers such as pine and spruce to provide cover, sap, seeds, and nesting sites; and deciduous trees such as oaks, beech, and hickories to provide nuts, and good nesting locations.

Other foods

Be creative and see what you can attract with a variety of foods. Try popped popcorn, hulled sunflowers, peanut hearts, soaked raisins, pieces of fruit (orioles like oranges), fruit seeds (melons, apples), grapes, grape jelly (another oriole favorite), cooked potatoes, leftover oatmeal, ready-to-eat cereal, or mealworms.

Grit

Birds "chew" their food in their muscular, stomach-like gizzards. To aid in the grinding, birds swallow small, hard materials such as sand, ashes, bits of charcoal, ground eggshells, and ground oyster shells. "Grit" will therefore attract many birds, as a food supplement or even by itself. You can purchase grit at most feed and pet stores. If you decide to provide eggshells, be sure to bake them for 20 minutes at 250 degrees to kill Salmonella bacteria. Let the eggshells cool, then crush them into pieces smaller than a dime. Offer the eggshell in a dish or low platform feeder, separate from your seed feeders.

Water

Birds need water for drinking and bathing, so they are attracted to water just as they are to feeders. You can purchase a bird bath or simply use dishes or shallow pans. Birds seem to prefer baths that are at ground level, but if you are concerned about cats, raise the bath two or three feet above the ground.

Put some sand in the bottom of the bath to give the birds sure footing, and change the water every couple of days to keep it fresh. If the bath is on the ground, arrange a few branches or stones in the water so that birds can stand on them and drink without getting wet (this is particularly important in winter). Such "islands" also will allow waterlogged bugs, especially bees, a surface to climb onto and dry out so they can fly away.

One of the best ways to make your birdbath more attractive is to provide dripping water. You can buy a dripper or sprayer, or you can recycle an old bucket or plastic container by punching a tiny hole in the bottom, filling it with water, and hanging it above the birdbath so the water drips out.

In freezing climates, a bird bath heater will keep ice from forming. Never add anti-freeze; it is poisonous to all animals including birds.

Bird Feeding Tips

•Birds may be wary of new foods. If you add something new to your bird-feeding station, offer it in a familiar place.

•If you buy a lot of seed, store it in a cool, dry place, in a rodent-proof, metal can. Check the seed often for mold. Dispose of any seed that is questionable. *Do not feed birds any foods that contain chocolate. An ingredient of chocolate�the obromine�is toxic to birds just as it is to dogs and cats.

We thank the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project FeederWatch for providing this material. Project FeederWatch relies upon the observations of bird-feeding enthusiasts, like you, to help them learn more about feeder birds. We encourage you to join Project FeederWatch by calling the Lab at (800) 843-2473. Or click on the button to learn more.

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