Come spring, as the nesting season unfolds, you'll have the added pleasure of recognizing many of the birds as individuals. Foods Wild Birds Prefer Bargain blends of seed found in grocery and hardware stores often contain filler seed. You'll make the birds happier and save money if you buy the seeds they prefer in bulk from local feed stores. Other popular seeds are striped sunflower seed and niger thistle. Here are some good choices.
Sunflower seed attracts the greatest variety of birds.
It is especially attractive to birds who prefer to perch while feeding, such as chickadees, cardinals, nuthatches, siskins, titmice, finches, redpolls, crossbills, bluejays, grosbeaks, and woodpeckers. Sunflower seed is most efficiently dispensed in a tube feeder. White proso millet appeals to ground-feeding birds, such as doves, juncos, sparrows, and towhees. Although these birds naturally feed at ground level, they will readily accept seed placed on a platform feeder that has been mounted on a post one to two feet above the ground. Thistle lures goldfinches, house finches, purple finches, and pine siskins to the feeder.