Intro to Feeding Birds
Selecting Seed and Feeders
Birds have specific food preferences, largely due to the size and shape of their beaks. Providing a mixture of both food and feeders will attract the greatest variety of bird species to your yard. Our mixes have been developed specifically for birds in this area, with more than 30 years of experience behind us. Below is a guide to selecting the food and feeder types appropriate for the types of birds you wish to attract.
Bird Species |
Food Preference |
Feeder Options |
| American Goldfinch | Nyjer®, Nyjer® & Chips, medium or fine sunflower chips (fine will fit in Nyjer® tubes), Finches’ Choice, Black Oilers | Nyjer® and seed tubes; window, fly-through and hopper sunflower feeders |
| Baltimore Oriole | nectar, grape jelly, orange halves, mealworms | oriole nectar feeders, grape jelly and orange feeders, mealworm feeders |
| Black-capped Chickadee | Joe’s Mix, Cabin Mix, Kracker Jax (no-mess mix), Songbird Delight, Oilers, peanut pickouts, medium sunflower chips, suet, mealworms | seed tube feeders, fly-through and hopper feeders, suet logs and cages |
| Blue Jay | Joe’s Mix, Cabin Mix, Kracker Jax, Oilers, peanuts (in-shell or pickouts), medium sunflower chips | prefers the ground, but will come to almost any seed or suet feeder |
| Dark-eyed Junco | Nyjer®, Nyjer® & Chips, Spectrum, Songbird Delight, white millet, fine or medium sunflower chips | prefers the ground under Nyjer® feeders, will come to low tray feeders and Nyjer® tube feeders |
| Downy, Hairy and Red-belliedWoodpeckers | suet plugs in logs, suet cakes, peanut pickouts, medium sunflower chips, mealworms | suet logs and cages, peanut feeders, fly-through feeders, even seed tube feeders (downy) |
| Eastern Bluebird | mealworms, fruit, sometimes suet | mealworm feeders, fly-through feeders, low tray feeders with mealworms in them |
| House Finch | Songbird, safflower, Nyjer® & Chips, Finches’ Choice, Dakota Mix, medium or fine sunflower chips (fine will fit in Nyjer® tubes), Black Oilers | Nyjer® and seed tubes, window, fly-through and hopper feeders |
| Mourning Dove | Spectrum, Songbird Delight, safflower, white millet, Nyjer® | prefers the ground, will come to tray or fly-through feeders or a tray on a tube feeder |
| Northern Cardinal | Mahtomedi Cardinal Mix, safflower, Dakota Mix, Kracker Jax, Songbird Delight, Joe’s Mix, Oilers, peanut pickouts, cracked corn | prefers the ground/tray feeder, fly-through and hopper feeders, will come to seed tube feeders with trays |
| Pileated Woodpecker | suet plugs and cakes, peanut pieces, mealworms, Dakota Mix, Oilers | suet logs, double suet cages, tail-prop suet feeders, large peanut (pieces) feeders |
| Purple Finch | Nyjer®, Nyjer® & Chips, Finches’ Choice, Dakota Mix, fine or medium sunflower chips, Oilers, safflower | seed tube feeders, fly-through and hopper feeders |
| Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Cabin Mix, Joe’s Mix, Kracker Jax, Songbird Delight, Oilers, safflower, peanut pickouts | tray and fly-through feeders, hopper feeders, tube feeders with trays |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird | nectar | hummingbird nectar feeders |
| White-breasted & Red-breasted Nuthatches | Joe’s Mix, Dakota Mix, Cabin Mix, Kracker Jax, Oilers, peanut pickouts, safflower, suet, mealworms | suet logs and cages, peanut pickout feeders, seed tube feeders, fly-through and hopper feeders |
| White-throated, White-crowned and other migratory sparrows (Fox, American Tree, Song, etc.) | Songbird Delight, Joe’s Mix, Nyjer® & Chips, Kracker Jax, white millet, fine or medium sunflower chips, Finches’ Choice, Nyjer® | prefer the ground under feeders with millet and Nyjer® in them, low tray feeders, fly-through feeders |
Nyjer® is a registered trademark of the Wild Bird Feeding Industry (WBFI).