Which Bird Food Will Attract The Widest Variety Of Wild Birds?

So you want to become a bird feeding enthusiast? Why not become a bird feeding expert while at it? Birds will only visit your yard if you put out something that appeals to them come feeding time. It’s not just enough to sit out on the porch and throw bread crumbs in the hope that this will attract the birds. You need to take the time to research what kinds of bird food will attract certain species of birds.

There are all sorts of products sold at pet stores and bird food supply companies. Ranging from seeds to nuts, sprays to cakes, there is a plethora of bird food for you to choose from. Maybe you do not like to buy pre mixed foods and would like to mix your own into your feeding station, it is important to bird feeding enthusiasts, and to the birds themselves that they � the bird feeding enthusiasts, have an understanding of what they put into their bird tables. Some homemade bird food recipes will even attract predatory birds that chase away the spritely little birds that you want to enjoy watching.

Bird food can either be of a seed variety, such as niger seed, or a non seed variety such as Suet,a beef or mutton fat that is fed to birds that naturally prefer worms. Sugar water is given to birds that prefer nectar, such as hummingbirds. Bigger birds such as ducks prefer huge chunks of bread, and chickens will eat almost anything.

The seed that attracts the widest variety of birds, and therefore the best to have in your feeding station, is sunflower. Sunflower comes in two kinds, Black Oil and Striped. Black oil seeds have very thin shells and are easy for most birds to crack. This can lead to an accumulation of many bird species, some of which you may not want. In order to weed out some species it is advisable to try the less easily cracked, striped variety. Striped sunflower seeds have a thicker shell that sparrows and blackbirds find hard to crack.

If you do not want the hassle of raking up seed shells, then you may try shelled sunflower commonly known as sunflower hearts. Many birds love these as well as other animals such as squirrels. They are also expensive to buy and spoil rather quickly. These are an option to be carefully considered.

Bird food should always be kept fresh. Feeding stations should be designed in a way that the first to come in should be the first to go out.