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Wild Bird Seed & Food


Autumn Signals Start of Feeding Frenzy

Fall is the traditional beginning of the greatest season for the most number of players. Football? No way. And it's not the World Series either. It's the classic start for the yearlong season of bird feeding. That's right. More people feed birds than watch football or baseball or any other sport, or participate in any other outdoor activity. Bird feeding is in. More than 50 million Americans already have season tickets.

To attract the widest variety of birds, landscape your property with plants that offer cover and natural foods for them, as well as make your yard look more beautiful. And provide a source of water as well.

The majority of North American birds suffer from loss of habitat. We need to make a concerted effort to slow down or reverse this process. Investment in avian habitat will return valuable dividends for birds and tons of backyard enjoyment for us. Now, as a new season is just beginning, it's a perfect time to get started.

Take an inventory of your feeders. Ideally you want to place feeders in areas that offer nearby cover for the birds and permit you to watch the bird activity from your favorite inside chair. Having some dense ground cover, shrubs or trees close by will help protect birds from predators.

Feeder selection should match the foods you offer. For example, tubular feeders with Nyjer™ attract goldfinches, red polls and pine siskins. Tube feeders for sunflower attract house finches and chickadees. Black oil sunflower, perhaps the best all-around seed, also can be served from hopper feeders for cardinals and other small birds. Hoppers hold large quantities and require less time for maintenance and filling.

Flat feeding trays positioned close to the ground accommodate doves, sparrows and other ground feeding birds that generally like mixed seed. These trays should have a lip to prevent seed from falling off. An optional cover is helpful to prevent rain and snow from fouling the seed. The bottom of the tray can be wood or fine mesh screen, which permits better drainage.

Beef suet, a good substitute for insects, appeals to insectivorous birds, such as woodpeckers and nuthatches.

With appropriate backyard habitat and the proper combination of seed and feeders, you should be able to attract a good assortment of birds. Your immediate surroundings, whether urban brick, woodlot or creek, will affect your success, but having neighbors who feed birds will help. Birds tend to make the rounds of "food patches," and a neighborhood smorgasbord is great incentive for feathered guests.

Fall is a season of change. Trees take on beautiful yellow and orange hues, days grow cooler and shorter and many birds migrate to southern climes. Depending on where you live, an assortment of residents and migrants will settle in your area. Invite them to your backyard.

Baking Bird Seed?

Among the most often-asked questions is, "Should I bake bird seed to stop sprouting when it falls to the ground?

"We simply do not recommend baking seed because it may change the value of its nutritional content, which defeats the purpose of using it in the first place.

According to Karen Burns at ETO Sterilization, Inc., in heat treatment experiments, conventional baking of sunflower seeds did not stop its germination. Dave Dornacker at the Knight Seed Company added, "Sunflower seeds will dry out in the oven, and in the microwave all the oil that runs out will make a mess."

Time favors sprouting seeds. If the birds don't eat what you put out fast enough, what falls to the ground will germinate. Inexpensive seed, packaged with lots of filler such as milo that many birds do not eat, often gets kicked out of the feeder. But the ground feeding birds won't eat it either.

Adequate trays placed underneath all your feeders will minimize waste as well as the problem of sprouting weeds. There are wonderful attachments available for almost every kind of feeder.

We suggest using a reasonable amount of packaged seed in an appropriate feeder fitted with a tray. If there's anything left over after the ground feeding birds have visited, get out your rake -- or your vacuum.

But maybe noted wild life biologist Scott Shalaway, who agrees with our position, said it best: "Baking seed is just another step that makes enjoying backyard birds a bit more complicated."

Beyond the 'Essentials'

From fruit to nuts, special treats also may attract more birds. Of all the foods attractive to the birds of summer, fruit is a favorite. Simple wooden or wire feeders with skewers conveniently hold an orange or apple half for thrashers, orioles, robins and others. Add a plastic cup for grape jelly as a treat for catbirds. Many birds go nuts for peanuts and there are feeders designed to dispense those treats while keeping other critters at bay. Seed snacks combine nuts and suet dough, molded into blocks or encased in ready-to-hang mesh bags. There are bulk seed blocks, available in small sizes to fit into a plastic-coated wire basket or large enough to set out on the ground.

Can You Crack a Sunflower Seed?

"Play ball!" is the time-honored call of America's favorite sport. It takes skill to make it in the big leagues, hitting, pitching -- snacking, too. There's a technique to tossing a handful of sunflower seeds into your mouth, then extracting the seeds from the hulls using only your teeth and tongue.

Watch your cardinals. in this case the bird, not the baseball team. These birds have a preference for black-oil sunflower seeds, served from a tray or platform-type feeder. They roll the seed around with their tongue until it is sideways in their strong, cone-shaped bill, then crack it open and eject the hull before swallowing.

Although sunflower seeds are the single most popular wild bird food, that's not what they're grown for at all. Bird feed, the by-product of the confection seed and oil seed markets, is in fact the seeds that are too small for human use. But as you no doubt have noticed, the birds don't mind getting "seconds." The seeds are just as good nutritionally, simply smaller and perhaps trickier to open.


Consider Safflower: Loved by Cardinals, Not by Squirrels

Like many other of the seeds that some 60 million North Americans put out for backyard songbirds, safflower existed long before this popular pastime came into vogue. One of humanity's oldest crops, safflower seeds were found in the 4,000-year-old tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs. Up until perhaps 10 years ago, safflower primarily was grown for its oil. It was crushed and turned into an edible oil for human consumption. Safflower also is used for dyes, coloring and medicinal purposes around the world. Much is exported to Japan from crush facilities in California. Safflower is a "western" seed, grown in the U.S. primarily in Arizona, California, Montana, western North Dakota and Utah. Crops normally are planted in April or May and harvested in late summer in the West, September in the North. It all depends on the weather. Seeds take from 110 to 140 days to mature, and are harvested using a small combine. Safflower plants grow in rows, from 15 to 30 inches high, depending on growing conditions. Walking among the yellow-orange "safflowers" is not recommended. It's like being in a field of purple-colored thistle; the spines on the plants are tough enough to rip your jeans. It has a taproot that goes some 8 to 10 feet deep, making safflower ideal for growing in areas with little surface moisture. Each branch has one to five heads that contain 15 to 20 seeds each. The multi-sided seed has a hard shell. Bright white safflower seeds are showing up in more and more backyard bird feeders. It also is in feed for members of the parrot family, pigeons and small pets. It is found in mixes as well as a single ingredient in 3-, 5- or 25-pound bags. The domestic market is estimated at more than 55 million pounds a year, triple what it was only five years ago. Its use in food for birds may double again in the next 5 or 10 years. From the point of view of those who feed birds around their homes, safflower has two big pluses. First, it ranks right up with black oil sunflower as a favorite of the Northern cardinal. And second, because of its bitter taste, safflower may be close to the bottom of the preferred food list of the eastern gray squirrel. If you haven't considered the virtues of safflower in your wild bird-feeding program, this could be the time to start.

Dried Stalks

From late summer through the winter, many wildflowers have dried stalks that remain standing to disperse their seeds. Yarrow, aster and goldenrod, for example, provide a single spot for the birds to pick many seeds from each flower head.

Toward the end of the growing season, let old blooms on roses go to seed (called rose hips). Birds love them. The seed heads of both annual and perennial flowers provide food, as do the insects these plants support. The old seed heads and stocks that remain over the winter will help sustain sparrows, juncos and other ground feeding birds.


Feed Your Friends A Mixed Bag of Foodstuffs

As the seasons change, experiment with offerings at your own feeding station; you never know which foods may appeal to a temperamental feathered guest. Eastern Baltimore and western Bullock's orioles, for example, will take cooked raisins, apple and banana slices as well as oranges. They apparently have a taste for sweets because grape jelly has been known to appeal to them. You can attract orioles that may drink from hummingbird feeders but usually orioles require a perch on the feeder as well as a larger supply of sugar-water solution such as Pure Hummer SugarÔ from your local Wild Bird Center. As with any feeder, check your food offerings to make sure they haven't drawn ants or become moldy.


Little Black Seed with the Great Big Taste

Two of the most colorful -- and therefore sought-after -- backyard birds are northern cardinals and American goldfinches. And black oilseeds are just about the favorite food of both. The cardinal likes black oil sunflower over almost everything else. But the bright yellow and black goldfinch generally prefers the much smaller, black Nyjer™ seed. Both black sunflower and Nyjer™ contain roughly 40% oil, which the birds recognize as a dietary necessity. Nyjer™ has been grown in Ethiopia and India for centuries. A second name often given to this small black seed -- thistle – should not be used at all.

Nyjer™, with its yellow flower, is not related to the purple-flowered thistle, which is a large, hardy weed quite unloved by farmers and gardeners alike. How the terms "Nyjer™" or "thistle" became associated with the small oilseed is not clear. Since the plants are grown in several African countries besides Ethiopia, the name may have come from the river Niger that flows for some 2600 miles through the northern parts of the continent. Whether grown in Africa, India or Nepal, however, probably three-fourths of the crop is crushed and used as edible oil. The same is true of black oil sunflower, of course. In both cases, much of the other one-quarter becomes food for wild birds. Nyjer™ seed has had its problems through the years in ways other than what it is called. By 1985, the majority of Nyjer™ shipments arriving on the east coast were found to contain "dodder." To devitalize this noxious weed, steam treating for 15 minutes at 212¡F. was made a mandatory "condition of entry." Nearly 10 years later, Nyjer™ seed importation came to a dead halt when nine noxious weeds and eight disease- associated weeds were identified. To devitalize any weed seed that might be present, the steam-treating temperature was raised to 250¡F. If you never have put Nyjer seed out, remember that you need to use a special tube feeder with very tiny feeding ports Otherwise, the seed is liable to flow right through the feeder and onto the ground. And if your Nyjer™ feeder gets on the list of favorite dining locations for your local house finches, you need to know that an even-more-specialized feeder has been developed -- with small holes located beneath the perches.

Millet Seed

Millet is the other white seed. Although white proso millet is a major ingredient in nearly every seed mix, it also can be offered to birds on its own. A favorite of many ground-feeding birds, such as sparrows and towhees, millet may be relished by painted and indigo buntings. White proso millet has a slightly sweet taste and high protein content. Possibly the world's oldest staple food, there even is a reference to millet in the Bible.


Nature of Nectar

No backyard bird feeding station is complete without feeders to attract those tiny flying jewels, hummingbirds, and the equally resplendent oriole. In the wild, hummingbirds have two major sources of food: flower nectar and small insects, such as gnats and spiders, which provide protein. They pick their insects from flowers or grab them out of the air as they dart around looking for nectar. Hummingbirds readily use a nectar feeder, and since ninety percent of their time is devoted to finding nectar, you really should have one or more of these specially designed feeders in your yard. There are two basic feeder styles: saucer and vacuum. The latter comes in a wide range of capacities, materials and designs, and is easily hung from a tree limb or pole. It also can be mounted directly to the outside of a window. Saucers are basin feeders covered with a lid with several feeding ports. The lid lifts completely off for easy cleaning. When you shop for a new hummingbird feeder, look for: Bee guards and ant moats Bees and ants are attracted to the same sugar-water mixture as hummingbirds, creating a nuisance to feeding birds and even fouling the nectar. Stop ants by putting a barrier, such as a water-filled moat, between the ants and the nectar. Bees and wasps have short mouthparts, so bee guards over the end of the feeding tubes interfere with their reach. Capacity Choose a feeder that matches the number of hummers available to feed in your area. Larger sizes may be tempting, but it's better to start with a smaller feeder to reduce waste and the likelihood of nectar being neglected and going bad. Perches Hummingbirds are so acrobatic they can eat on the fly. A perch is not required in order to dine. However, a perch may offer an incentive to hang around for a little while. Perches should be spaced about 11/2 inches from each feeding port to accommodate most varieties of North American hummingbirds. Materials Hummingbird feeders usually are made from plastic or a combination of glass and plastic, the variable being the nectar container. Glass containers are more durable and scratch resistant, but plastic won't shatter if it hits the floor. You will be doing lots of filling and cleaning, so make sure you can take the feeder apart easily to reach all parts to scrub thoroughly. Hummers do not find dirty feeders appealing, and old nectar can be dangerous to their health. Fill the feeder with a solution of one part sugar to four parts of water, a ratio that approximates the sugar content in many flowers favored by hummingbirds. Never use honey or artificial sweeteners in place of sugar. It is not necessary to add red food coloring because there is sufficient red on the feeder to attract the birds' attention. A commercially prepared hummingbird food (Pure Hummer Sugar™) is available from your local Wild Bird Center store. There really is no limit on where you can locate a hummingbird feeder, even an apartment balcony or office window. But just because you put it up does not guarantee its use. If you do not see hummingbirds in local gardens or neighboring parks, they may not be in your area. However, it could simply be a matter of time to establish your feeding station among resident birds, or you may live where you will have them only during spring and fall migrations. Hummingbirds are very territorial and don't like to share your nectar with other hummers. This can limit the visitors to your feeder. If you want to attract more, add more feeders. Place them out of view of each other, or so close to each other that no individual hummingbird can possibly defend them all. You will have the best results if you get your feeders out first thing in the spring, but don't hesitate to put them out in mid-summer. Then, as the weather gets cooler, continue to feed through the fall until the hummingbirds no longer visit. That's the indication that the local population has gone south and the migrant birds also have passed through your area. Orioles have become such constant visitors to hummingbird feeders that manufacturers now produce large capacity feeders with orange, instead of red, colored parts. If you plan to use an oriole feeder, choose one that includes similar features to the hummingbird feeder such as an ant moat and bee guards. Start early to catch the migrating males, enticing them first with fresh orange slices set out close to the nectar feeder. The same mixture of sugar and water that you use for hummers will work for the orioles as well. Sometimes it seems like a lot of fuss and bother. But when the first fascinating hummer or gorgeous oriole shows up for a snack, you'll realize all your efforts were well worth it.

Remodeling a Finch Favorite - "Thistle" seed now labeled "Nyjer"™

There are good reasons why the bird feeding industry has made this name change. Not only is the seed not thistle, it isn't remotely related to the purple-flowered weed that grows wild in many parts of North America. The tiny, black seed grows only in parts of Asia and Africa on a yellow-flowering plant. If the seed falls on the ground under your feeder, it may sprout, but it won't germinate. The name may have come from the river Niger that flows through northern parts of Africa.

The "thistle" tag probably was used because Nyjer™ seed is a favorite of American goldfinches. It's interesting that goldfinches do use the down from the thistle plant to line their nests.

Nyjer™ requires a special tube feeder with very small feeding holes. Otherwise the seed flows right through the feeder to the ground. If your Nyjer™ feeder becomes too popular with house finches, there is a specially designed tube feeder with small holes beneath the perches that easily accommodate the more acrobatic goldfinch. Ask your local Wild Bird Center staff for details.

Safflower Seed

Bright, white safflower seeds look pretty but have a bitter taste, which makes safflower a big plus at bird feeding stations. Squirrels often won't eat it. Safflower seed, included in many wild birdseed products available from your local Wild Bird Center can be bought as a single ingredient as well, and ranks high as a favorite of the Northern cardinal.


Seed Producers

Annual flowers are prolific seed producers, with the added benefit of almost instant color to brighten your view. Try easy-to-grow bird-favorites such as cosmos, impatiens, marigold and zinnia. A single zinnia seed head can keep a goldfinch quite busy cracking open one seed per petal.

The all time favorite, sunflower, comes in varieties from small accent plants to the very tall sunflower with the large flowering head. Locate them so the sunflower head can follow the sun. As the plant matures, cut and dry the seed head for winter-feeding to the chickadees, nuthatches and small clinging birds.

Did you know that unlike color-blind mammals, birds are attracted by bright color? When the seeds are ripe and ready to go, both large and small fruits turn brilliant shades of scarlet, purple and other hues.

The fruit, grown around the seed, is picked up and swallowed whole by the birds. As the fruit gets digested, it's ground up in the bird's crop, but the seed within the fruit stays intact. The bird moves on, carrying the seed elsewhere. After passing through a bird's digestive tract, the fruit seed is ready to germinate.

Wildflowers that attract birds with their seeds can successfully be incorporated in your garden, along with cultivated species, if you are patient and persistent. Start small; some species require several seasons to mature.

Southern Winter Feeding

If you live north of the Mason-Dixon line, feeding your feathered winter visitors can be a chilling job. But in the sunbelt, the pleasures of bird feeding are quite different. The same kinds of seeds work in the same way in all styles of bird feeders no matter where people live. However, sunbelt residents often find that water is more important than food. The major difference during the winter is that southerners get to feed neo-tropical migrants, the songbirds that have left cold climes. For example, in October when the last of the ruby-throated hummingbirds have abandoned northern feeders, Floridians are just putting theirs in place. Along the gulf coast, where occasional cold snaps cause birdbaths to freeze, people still are able to feed hummingbirds all year. In the Rio Grande Valley, flowers such as petunias and honeysuckle attract hummingbirds into backyards, where orioles and warblers also are seen. Again, water is important for drinking and bathing and can draw such species as thrashers and robins. A menu of black-oil sunflower seed is as popular in Arizona as in Alaska, attracting titmice, cardinals, white-throated sparrows and white-breasted nuthatches. Milo is eaten by more birds in the Southwest than elsewhere in North America. If you live in California, try peanut butter treats for scrub jays, Nuttal's woodpeckers, and orange-crowned and yellow-rumped warblers. Apple slices on a tray feeder work as well for mockingbirds in the Golden State as they do in Connecticut.

People put up feeders and water devices not just for birds' winter survival but for the pleasure they bring us. Our feathered friends survived for centuries without any human help. Nevertheless, today they reward our helpful efforts by bringing their brilliant colors and cheerful songs into our lives.

Summer Is the Time to Try Some Different Bird Foods

Summertime is a great opportunity to experiment with foods other than seed on your bird-feeding menu.

Try skewering orange or apple halves on a tree branch for tanagers, grosbeaks and orioles. Thrashers, mockingbirds and catbirds also enjoy fruit, including bananas and watermelon, which attract insects such as fruit flies that in turn may attract hummingbirds.

Consider "live" food for your summer birds. Breeding birds are partial to insects during the nesting season, so offer mealworms, which are beetle larvae, or a handful of grubs. To entice species not normally feeder visitors you can put the insects in a window tray, or simply put out a dish with sides high enough to restrict the wriggly creatures.

Be alert for unusual visitors as curious migrants stop to investigate the activity around your feeding stations. In between spring and fall migrations, the action is like watching a soap opera as dominant males vie for the best spots, trying to impress the females. Later, when your neighborhood birds are raising their young, notice how the adults bring around their young for lessons in getting food and water. Once the juveniles start coming on their own, you will have the opportunity to study their plumage before they molt into adult feathers. Patterns and color show the greatest variations during the time between fledging and fall migration; the differences between some of the fledglings and their parents is amazing. There is no doubt that summer's birds are unique entertainment.

Tidbits About Seed Bits

Birds have different preferences about what -- and where -- they eat. For example, grosbeaks are sunflower seed lovers and like it served well above ground in hanging or post-mounted feeders. On the other hand, juncos like their white proso millet on a flat tray near the ground spread, as do mourning doves (above), various kinds of sparrows and towhees. Striped sunflower, larger and with less oil content, is easily eaten by birds such as cardinals that have the capability to crack open the hulls with their strong beaks to extract the seed. Sunflower chips, which are hulled seeds, are more expensive. But they are completely edible, which means no waste under your feeders. Black Nyjer™ or thistle seed is imported from southeast Asian and African countries, and is in no way related to the thistle that grows along North American roadways. Particularly attractive to finches, this seed needs to be served from a tube feeder designed with tiny feeding portals.

True Grit

Birds have no teeth for chewing, but many consume hard foods such as grains and seeds almost exclusively. So what helps birds digest these tough morsels?

The answer is in a bird's stomach -- the lower part of its stomach, to be specific, in an area called the gizzard. Here the mixing and grinding of food that occurs in human mouths takes place. But instead of bicuspids, the gizzard uses grit --small rocks, shells and sand -- to break apart hard foods.

The bird swallows the grit specifically to help with digestion. And when the grit wears down, the bird simply passes it as waste and consumes a fresh supply. Grit normally is easily accessible in the wild, so it's not necessary to put it out at your feeding station. However, when snow covers the natural supply, you can add some -- use a ratio of about one part coarse sand or ground clam or oyster shells to 20 parts of seed.

When the usual grit ingredients aren't available, some birds will pick up things such as fruit pits as a substitute. Other, more remarkable objects have been recovered from bird gizzards, once nearly starting a gold rush. In 1911, gold nuggets were found in ducks shot during hunting season. The largest piece was worth about 50 cents and sent an entire western Nebraska community out prospecting.