Provided courtesy of National Audubon Society, Inc.
By:  Stephen W. Kress, Vice President of Bird Conservation

Over 100 North American bird species supplement their natural diets with birdseed, suet, fruit and nectar obtained from feeders. Bird feeding can benefit birds and also provides great bird watching from your own backyard. Different birds are attracted by different kinds of seed, so try offering a variety in separate feeders. Just make sure that the seed is compatible with both the feeder and the birds you hope to attract; homemade recipes offer even more options.

Sunflower seed
Black-oil seed is the preferred seed of many small feeder birds, especially in northernlatitudes. Striped sunflower seed is also readily eaten, especially by large-beaked birds. Hulled sunflower seed is consumed by the greatest variety of birds; it attracts jays, red-bellied woodpeckers, finches, goldfinches, northern cardinals, evening grosbeaks, pine grosbeaks, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and grackles.

Millet
White millet is the favorite food of most smallbeaked ground-feeding birds; red millet is also readily eaten. Millet attracts quail, doves, juncos, sparrows, towhees, cowbirds, and red-winged blackbirds.

Cracked corn
Medium cracked corn attracts many species of ground-feeding birds, but it is vulnerable to rot, since the interior of the kernel readily soaks up moisture. Feed small amounts, mixed with millet, on feeding tables or from watertight hopper feeders. Avoid fine cracked corn, since it quickly turns to mush; coarse cracked corn is too large for small-beaked birds. Cracked corn attracts pheasants, quail, doves, crows, jays, sparrows, juncos, and towhees.

Safflower
Safflower seed is readily eaten by cardinals,grosbeaks, sparrows, and doves; starlings, house sparrows, and squirrels usually find it less appealing than sunflower seed.

Thistle (Nyjer)
A preferred food of American goldfinches, lesser goldfinches, house finches, and common redpolls, nyjer is sometimes called "black gold," because it costs about $1.50 per pound. Do not confuse it with prickly thistle, a pink-flowered weed used by goldfinches to line their nests.

Suet and bird puddings (beef fat and seed)
This mixture attracts insect-eating birds such as woodpeckers, wrens, chickadees, nuthatches, and titmice. Place the suet in special feeders or net onion bags at least five feet from the ground to keep it out of the reach of animals. Do not put out suet during hot weather as it can turn rancid; also, dripping fat can damage natural waterproofing on bird feathers. Peanut butter pudding (recipe on reverse panel) is a good substitute for suet in the summer.

Peanuts
Whole and crushed peanuts attract woodpeckers, jays, chickadees, titmice, bushtits, nuthatches, brown creepers, wrens, kinglets, northern mockingbirds, brown thrashers, starlings, and yellow-rumped and pine warblers. Provide these in tube-shaped, metal mesh feeders.

For information about Audubon, including how to become a member, visit our website at www.audubon.org or call 800-274-4201.