In Louisiana, the beginning of the year is typically cold, and cooler temperatures mean there is less natural food available for birds. This is a great time to pull out your bird feeder.
Our beloved Northern Cardinal and bossy Blue Jay are visitors to backyard feeders all year long. Other birds, such as the American Goldfinch and Ruby-crowned Kinglet, become visitors during late fall and leave in the early spring. Knowing which foods these birds eat will help attract them to your feeder.
There are many commercial bird-seed mixes available on the market, which promise to attract the greatest number of birds by combining several different seed types; however, these mixes can contain a large amount of milo (round reddish seed) as a filler, which most songbirds will not bother with. To get the best seed variety, look for mixes that don’t contain much milo. Better yet, make your own mix. Feeders should be at least three feet away from your house to avoid bird window-kills and collisions.
Sunflower seeds come in two types: black oil and striped. If you could only choose one type of seed, the sunflower has the most general appeal to birds visiting feeders. Cardinals, chickadees, House Finches, nuthatches, jays, Tufted Titmice and grosbeaks like black oil seeds. Striped sunflower seeds are preferred by grosbeaks and Tufted Titmice and are best used when there’s a high population of either.
Store seed in metal garbage cans with secure lids to keep safe from hungry squirrels. Put the can in a cool, dry location and avoid direct heat. Damp seeds may grow mold that can be fatal to birds, while overheating can destroy the nutrition and taste of sunflower seeds. Seeds do not store well for long periods and should be used within a year.
Shucked sunflower seeds: Most small-beaked species, such as American Goldfinches, nuthatches, and Pine Siskins, have trouble opening sunflower seeds. Providing shucked seeds attracts these birds.
Millet are found in most seed mixes in either red or white form. Ground-feeding birds—such as doves, juncos, winter sparrows, thrashers, Carolina Wrens, and cardinals—like millet.
Cracked corn seed is not very expensive and is often used by hunters to attract ducks, deer, and turkeys. It also attracts winter sparrows, jays, towhees, and blackbirds.
Thistle (niger) seed looks like grains of wild rice and is preferred by American Goldfinches, House Finches, doves, Indigo Buntings, and Pine Siskins. It is rather pricey, but if there are any goldfinches in the area, this will attract them.
Raw peanuts will attract jays, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Wrens, and woodpeckers. It will also attract squirrels, so you may want to put them in a separate, squirrel-proof feeder.
Suet is definitely a wintertime food for insect-eating birds. It is a high-energy food source made up of hard fat mixed with seeds, grains, nuts, and fruit. Because suet contains rendered fat, it will spoil during warm days and is best used during cool temperatures. Choose flavors like peanut butter, blueberry, and even hot pepper. Squirrels don’t like anything spicy. Woodpeckers, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, nuthatches, Pine Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and Carolina Wrens love suet.
Mealworms aren’t really “worms;” they are the larvae of the darkling beetle. Backyards with wide-open space make good bluebird habitat, and offering mealworms will bring them in. Feed mealworms in a separate area from where regular seed is provided. Pine Warblers also like mealworms.
Provide fresh or dried fruit in small quantities as it can spoil quickly. Offer fruit in a special container or an area separate from seed to attract robins, waxwings, bluebirds, and mockingbirds. Soak raisins and currants in water overnight, then place them on a platform feeder. To draw migrating orioles and tanagers, provide halved oranges on a nail near other feeders. Cedar Waxwings love fruiting red mulberries, which can only be offered by planting this tree in your yard.
Sugar water or nectar: Louisiana does get winter hummingbirds, so having your feeder up might just attract one. However, Orange-crowned Warblers and House Finches like nectar too and will visit the feeder, sometimes tipping it over and spilling the nectar. Make the solution of one part white sugar to three parts water. Boil the water briefly and then add sugar; no red dye is needed. Sugar water must be changed every few days in hot-weather periods or discarded if mold is present. At the end of winter, rake up uneaten grain and sunflower hulls to prevent mold. It is also a good time to clean your feeder with water and a ten-percent non-chlorine bleach solution. Scrub with Dawn detergent if needed, then rinse very well and dry in the sun.
If you have questions or comments, email Harriett at harriett.pooler@gmail.com.
