song bird mixes

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Permalink Reply by Angelle Duhon on May 9, 2009 at 2:29pm

I dont think they do. Certain birds prefer certain seeds but their preferences also differ regionally. Ive found the most effective way to attract "better" birds or specific birds is setting up a feeder that physically accomodates particular birds with one or two of the species favorite seed. My less desirable birds (which in my yard are white winged doves) I feed (mainly cracked corn) on the ground in the empty lot across street. Now they no longer pile on ten to twenty at a time on my platform feeder not allowing other birds to eat. The house sparrows usually join them as well. I have four different feeding stations set up in the yard. The most busy is a large platform on a post where I feed the universal black oil sunflower seed and then "treats" such as orange halves, occasional meal worms, peanuts in the shell. Then I have a globe feeder for small and agile finches, they are the only birds that are able to eat the costly nyger seed in this feeder so its not going to waste.

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Permalink Reply by Bird Nerd on May 9, 2009 at 7:57pm

Very interesting - Great idea to have different feeding stations-- Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Sam Crowe on May 10, 2009 at 12:22pm

The WBFI was running a program called Project Wildbird to determine which birds preferred which seeds. Regional and seasonal information was part of the testing protocol.

You can see some preliminary results on this web site.

http://www.projectwildbird.org/

I also offer multiple feeding stations instead of mixed seed, and change the offerings based on the season. If you have not tried feeding suet, give it a shot. It attracts a lot of different species for me.

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Permalink Reply by Bird Nerd on May 10, 2009 at 8:34pm

COOL!! Will do!

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Permalink Reply by Sarah D. on June 10, 2009 at 1:34pm

Oh, I forgot to answer the question!

I don't use the song bird mixes any more because they often have cracked corn &/or milo seed which attracts unwanted & alien birds. I don't like the invader English house sparrows & don't want them moving out here into the country after new digs. They chase off the purple finches, gold finches, buntings in town. The mixes also attract flocks of alien starlings etc. that appear in huge flocks in the Fall & Spring & Jays & cardinals which are aggresive & territorial at the feeders.

Oh, the tufted titmouse (mice? plural?) have decided to stay this year, apparently the cheap brand of small chunk dry dog food I changed to when I cut my budget & added a chihuahua in with the big dogs is VERY TASTY! They steal out of the dog dishes & my dogs all know that any birds in the yard are part of MY pack & not to be molested, the same goes for our 1 indoor cat (when she gets out on the porch), but alien cats are to be chased out of the yard & away from MY birds.
:)

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Permalink Reply by Sarah D. on June 10, 2009 at 1:25pm

I have one of those collapsable "cage" feeders for the black oil sunflower seed. It attracts Gold finches, painted buntings, the occasional cardinal, tufted titmouse, indigo buntings, chickadees, but the jays around here don't like it. (Yay! They are too aggressive for the little finches & buntings).

I also put little piles of the niger & black oil sunflower on the ground because it seems like the little female painted buntings prefer to eat the seed off the ground for some reason.

I also have a hanging tube feeder for niger seed which is what the smaller finches & buntings prefer. I have a hummingbird feeder & a suet feeder too. I don't use the suet feeder starting around April because it gets too warm. In the warm months, my woodpeckers eat the black sunflower seeds & yells at me about it every time I go outside. lol

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Permalink Reply by Sam Crowe on June 11, 2009 at 2:32pm

I do not get Indigo Buntings in my yard, but a friend does, and she says both male and female Indigo Buntings seem to prefer to feed on the ground.

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