It’s easy to attract birds. Just give them some food and water. In the winter, water is as important as food. Birds also like a little cover, like bushes, shrubs, tree limbs, but mostly it’s food and water they want.
There are lots of different types of birds and one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to seeds and foods. Personally, I think the more variety you offer your feathered friends when it comes to food, the more visitors you’ll get.
The inside of my shed looks like a feed supply store. I have lots of different types of seeds and food. Though I rotate my stock, this is what I like to offer my birds and keep on hand.
Number one – sunflower chips or hearts. This is the heart of the sunflower seed, a most popular seed with most birds, but some, like bluebirds, can’t crack the sunflower seeds open, while they can eat and digest the hearts. Number two, whole sunflower seeds. Birds love the striped sunflower seeds, a larger and slightly more expensive version of the solid black oil sunflower seeds. When possible, I keep a bag open and spread out a cup or two each morning. Birds also love millet (especially the ground feeding sparrows and snowbirds), safflower seeds, dried fruit and peanuts. All these are often available in the premium mixes. Recently, I have been buying an 8-pound bag of small peanuts from Southern States. The blue jays go crazy over peanuts. Titmice and little chickadees also love a nut or two. Thistle seed feeders attracts all the finches and the spillage from the feeder is quickly eaten by doves and sparrows. Cracked corn is another favorite of some song birds. Whole corn kernels are relished by the crows (and squirrels)
I have three separate seed feeders, plus a thistle feeder, two suet cages and two sources of heated water in the winter. I also scatter a wide assortment of seeds in the back of the yard for the ground feeders. On any given morning there will be a hundred birds – of all sizes, types and colors – feeding away.
Feeding and watching birds is something I truly enjoy. It’s a little pricey, but well worth it. If you want lots of birds, give them a wide variety of food and keep the birdbath filled with unfrozen water.