Bird Seed

When buying seed for your feeders, it’s tempting to get the biggest, cheapest bag. But not all bird seed is the same. Figure out the nutritional value of the seeds and whether your local birds can actually eat them. Black-oil sunflower seeds provide good protein and fat. Other good seeds include white millet and nyjer thistle. Avoid red milo, a livestock grain. And clean your feeding station regularly to prevent the spread of disease.

BirdNote^®

Bird Seed

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.

When buying seed for your feeders, it may be tempting to get the biggest, cheapest bag. But not all bird seed is the same.

[Purple Finch (Western)]

When considering what to feed your backyard birds, you want to know two things: the nutritional value of what’s in the bag and whether your birds actually eat the seeds. Birds can require up to 10,000 calories per day and eat as fast as they can. But they toss what they don’t like.

Black-oil sunflower seeds are tops: good protein and fat. Birds seek both.

[Black-capped Chickadee]

Don’t bother with black-and-white striped sunflower seeds, the kind that people like to eat. They are bigger, less nutritious, and wasted on birds.

[White-throated Sparrow song]

Other seeds to look for in mixes are white millet and nyjer thistle. Avoid mixes with red milo, a livestock grain. Quail and cowbirds might eat it, but it could mold and spoil your feed.

To foster healthy birds, stick with the good stuff: black-oil sunflower seeds, white millet, and nyjer thistle. And remember to clean your feeding station frequently, to reduce the spread of disease and the occurrence of rodents.

The birds will thank you.

[White-throated Sparrow song]

For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Purple Finch ML 119470 recorded by G. Keller, Black-capped Chickadee ML 76146911 recorded by B. Walker, and White-throated Sparrow ML 15568 recorded by A. A. Allen.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2021 BirdNote December 2021 March 2024 Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# feeder-07-2021-12-28 feeder-07

References: https://www.thespruce.com/black-oil-sunflower-seeds-386560 
https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2010/Bird-seeds 
https://feederwatch.org/about/how-to-participate/