|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top 10 Foods for
Winter Bird Feeding
by
Bill Thompson, III
Editor, Bird
Watcher's Digest
Winter: 'tis the season for feeding birds all across North America, especially in those regions where it gets mighty cold and snowy. If you are a veteran bird feeder, you've probably gained lots of insight into the foods your backyard birds prefer. Perhaps you've learned through trial and error, or perhaps you did your homework and read up on the subject (see below for sources of further information).
If you are just getting started in bird feeding, or if you are frustrated by a lack of success in attracting birds to your feeders, the first thing you need to determine is whether you are feeding the right foods. If you are not giving the birds what they want, you might not have many birds.
The
following 10 foods are extremely popular with backyard birds
all across North
America.If
your favorite bird food is not on this list, please let me
know. After all, I am
not
omniscient. I'm just a guy, living in Ohio, who likes to
feed birds.
10.
Black-oil sunflower seed. This seed is the hamburger of
the bird world.Almost any bird that will visit a bird feeder
will eat black-oil sunflower. Birds
that can't
crack the seeds themselves will scour the ground under the
feeders, picking
up
bits and pieces. Bird feeding in North America took a major
leap forward when
black-oil
sunflower became widely available in the early 1980s. Why do
birds prefer
it? The outer shell of a black-oil sunflower seed is thinner
and easier to
crack.
The kernel inside the shell is larger than the kernel inside
a white-or
gray-striped
sunflower seed, so birds get more food per seed from
black-oil.
This
last fact also makes black-oil a better value for you, the
seed buyer.
Striped
sunflower is still fine (evening grosbeaks may even prefer
it slightly), but
black-oil
is better.
9.
Peanuts. Peanuts-de-shelled, dry-roasted, and
unsalted-are bird-feeding's
hot
new trend, at least in North America. In Europe, feeding
peanuts has been
popular
for a long time. Peanut manufacturers and processors have
now identified
the bird-feeding market as a good place to get rid of the
peanuts that
are
broken or otherwise unfit for human consumption. Ask your
feed/seed
retailer
about peanut bits or rejects. Several major feeder
manufacturers now
produce
sturdy, efficient tube-shaped peanut feeders. Woodpeckers,
jays, nuthatches,
chickadees, and titmice will readily visit a feeder for
this high-protein,
high-energy food. Even cardinals and finches will eat
peanuts.
8.
Suet. Most humans don't want a lot of fat in their diet,
but for birds in winter,
fat is
an excellent source of energy. Ask at your grocery store
butcher counter if
you
don't see packages of suet on display. No suet feeder? No
problem-just use
an old
mesh onion bag. If you want to get fancy with your suet, you
can render
it.
That is, melt it down to liquid, remove the unmeltable bits,
and then allow it
to
harden; this is best accomplished in a microwave oven.
Rendered suet lasts
longer
in hot weather, and while it's melted, you can add other
ingredients to it
(see
"bird treats," #1, below).
7.
Good mixed seed. Is there such a thing as BAD mixed
seed? You bet! Bad
mixed
seed has lots of filler in it-junk seeds that most birds
won't eat. Bad
mixed
seed can include dyed seed meant for pet birds, wheat, and
some forms
of red
milo that only birds in the Desert Southwest seem to eat.
Good mixed
seed
has a large amount of sunflower seed, cracked corn, white
proso millet,
and
perhaps some peanut hearts. The really cheap bags of mixed
seed sold at
grocery
stores can contain the least useful seeds. Smart feeder
operators buy
mixed
seed from a specialty bird store or a hardware/feed store
operation. You
can
even buy the ingredients separately and create your own
specialty mix.
6.
Nyjer/thistle seed. Though it can be expensive, Nyjer,
or thistle, seed is
eagerly
consumed by all the small finches-goldfinches, house,
purple, and
Cassin's
finches, pine siskins, and redpolls. You need to feed
thistle in a thistle
feeder
of some kind-the two most commonly used types of thistle
feeder are a
tube
feeder with small thistle-seed-sized holes, and a thistle
sock. A thistle sock
is a
sock-shaped, fine-mesh synthetic bag that is filled with
thistle seed. Small
finches
can cling to this bag and pull seeds out through the bag's
mesh. Two
potential
problems with thistle: it can go rancid or moldy quickly in
wet weather
and
uneaten seeds can germinate in your yard, creating a prickly
patch of thistle
plants.
Fortunately, this problem does not seem to be widespread.
All thistle
seed
is imported to North America, and it is all supposed to be
sterilized prior to
entry
into this country.
5.
Safflower. This white, thin-shelled, conical seed is
eaten by many birds and
has
the reputation for being the favorite food of the northern
cardinal. Some
feeder
operators claim that safflower seed is not as readily eaten
by squirrels
and
blackbirds (caveat: your results may vary). Feed safflower
in any feeder that
can
accommodate sunflower seed. Avoid feeding safflower on the
ground in wet
weather;
it can quickly become soggy and inedible. You can buy
safflower in bulk
at
seed and feed stores.
4.
Cracked corn. Sparrows, blackbirds, jays, doves, quail,
and squirrels are just a
few of
the creatures you can expect at your feeders if you feed
cracked corn.
Depending
on where you live you may also get turkeys, deer, elk,
moose, and
caribou.
Fed in moderation, cracked corn will attract almost any
feeder species.
Some
feeder operators only use this food to lure the squirrels
away from the bird
feeders.
Squirrels love corn-cracked or otherwise-best of all. Whole
corn that is
still
on the cob is not a good bird food because the kernels are
too big and hard
for
most small birds to digest. Cracked corn is broken up into
smaller, more
manageable
bits.
3.
Mealworms. We fed mealworms to a pair of nesting
bluebirds all this past
summer.
They rewarded us with four healthy broods of young
bluebirds. Eighteen
fledglings
in one summer should land our bluebirds in the Guinness Book
of World
Records. Most feeder birds, except goldfinches, will eat
mealworms if you
offer
them. Mealworms are available in bait stores, or by mail
order. Don't worry,
they
aren't slimy and gross. In fact, they aren't even worms;
they are larval
stage
of a beetle (Tenebrio molitor), if that makes you feel
better. We keep
1,000
mealworms in a tub of old-fashioned rolled oats and feed
them to the
birds
in a shallow ceramic dish. The dish has slippery sides so
the worms can't
crawl
out.
2. Fruit. Humans are supposed to eat at least three
servings of fruit every day.
Fruit
is also an important dietary element for birds, but it can
be hard to find in
many
areas in midwinter. Set out grapes, slices of citrus fruits,
apple or banana
slices,
and even melon rinds, and watch your birds chow down. If you
want to feed
raisins, chop them up and soak them in warm water first to
soften them up
a bit.
Offering fruit to tanagers and orioles is a traditional
spring and summer
feeding
strategy, but many winter feeder birds will eat fruit, too.
1.
Homemade bird treats. Smear
peanut butter
on a tree trunk, and poke some peanut bits into it. Melt
suet in your
microwave,
and pour it into an ice-cube tray to harden. Before it
solidifies, add
peanut
bits, raisins, apple bits, or other bird foods. Put the tray
in your freezer
to
harden. Once it does, you've got cubed bird treats. Easy to
make and easy to
use!