Some of the best edible seeds for home-growers are also highly tempting to birds. The seed most highly prized by birds is that of the sunflower. If you can bring yourself to share, sunflower seeds can help with feeding birds in winter and late fall, as long as they are dried and stored correctly. Both standard sunflower seeds and the larger ‘black oil’ sunflower seeds make excellent feed for house finches, nuthatches and northern cardinals. Several birds enjoy pumpkin seeds, too. They also eat grains, so (incredible as it sounds) they will try quinoa. However, they will only eat pre-soaked quinoa that has had its coating of bitter saponin removed.