A quick guide to seed types that can attract the birds

The seed that can attract a wide variety of birds in your backyard is the sunflowers. While the other seeds are also helpful to attract the other species of birds. Many people use a mixture of different seeds to attract the different birds in the garden. So, in general, the mixture of red millet, oats, and other fillers is not good for most bird species. In this article, we are going to provide a quick guide to bird lovers to attract birds.

Sunflower

It's the most commonly used seed to attract birds. There are two types of sunflowers, including black oil and striped. The black oil seed is virtually good for all the seed-eating birds due to their thin shells. While the striped sunflower is a little harder to open for the house sparrows. But the disadvantage of the sunflower seed is that it's equally attractive for the squirrels as well.

Safflower

Safflower is known for its thick shell. It's hard for many birds to open the safflower. But it's also a favorite among the cardinals, grosbeaks, doves, and native sparrows. The big advantage of the safflower seed is that they are not liked by the house sparrows, European starlings, and squirrels. Cardinals and grosbeaks prefer to take this seed from the tray feeders.

Nyjer or Thistle

These are the needle-like seeds, which were liked by the American Goldfinches, Lesser Goldfinches, Indigo Buntings, Pine Siskins, and Common Redpolls. The seeds are known for retaining their food value due to their heat-sterilized features.

White Proso Millet

It's a favorite seed of the ground-feeding birds, including the towhees, juncos, and cardinals. Unfortunately, this seed is also liked by the cowbirds and other blackbirds, and house sparrows. You may found the White Proso Millet scattered on the ground as it's preferred by the ground-feeding birds.

Shelled and Cracked Corn

Corn is liked by the grouse, pheasants, turkeys, quails, cardinals, grosbeaks, crows, ravens, jays, doves, ducks, cranes, and other species. But unfortunately, corn also has two main problems. The first one is that it's also liked by the house sparrows, cowbirds, starlings, geese, bears, raccoons, and deer. The second problem is that most often, this bird food is contaminated with aflatoxins. It's extremely toxic for the birds, even at a low level. Don't buy the corn in plastic bags, and also don't allow them to wet.

Moreover, they only offer a very small amount at a time.

Peanuts

Peanuts are very popular among the blue jays, crows, chickadees, titmice, woodpeckers, and many other species. But the disadvantage is that these are also favorite among the bears, raccoons, squirrels, and other unwanted animals. You can set the peanuts on platform feeders, window feeders, or right on the deck railing.

Rapeseed and Canary Seed

These two types of seeds are liked by only a few birds, including the quails, finches, and juncos. The rapeseed will leave to spoil if you are not getting these species in your garden. It's also very popular among the House Sparrows and cowbirds.

Milo or Sorghum

It's a favorite seed of many western ground-feeding birds. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, these seeds are preferred by the Steller's Jays, Curve-billed Thrashers, and Gambel's quails. The most important thing about the milo seeds is that the sparrows do not like them. But make sure to don't spread these seeds on the ground.

Golden Millet, Red Millet, Flax, and others

Most of these seeds are used in packaged bird seed mixes, but some birds shun them. It's responsible for the waste of seeds, and the breeding of bacteria and fungus. Make sure to read the ingredient list before buying any item for the birds.

All these seeds can attract the beautiful wild birds in your garden. But you can't attract the nectar-feeding birds with the seeds. If you are looking to attract nectar-feeding birds like hummingbirds, you can visit hummingbirdmentor.com. Here you will find all the necessary information about the small hummingbirds.