I am both lazy and interested in what I can get to come to my windows. For that reason, I stock a price conscious general feed, some no-mess sunflower seed for the finches and other little birds, safflower seed for the cardinals so there is something there when they show up, and peanuts in the shell for the bluejays, chipplemonkeys, and squirrels.
Peanuts
My aunt in California used to take three peanuts out each morning to feed the beautiful aqua scrub jays that would show up for them. She’d hold out her hand and, sure enough, after a short wait, a bird would shoot off the roof and pause to take a peanut from her hand.
I never had the patience to train them, but I did love watching those jays so I buy the unsalted peanuts in the shell at my local supermarket and toss out a handful across the gardens each morning.
Year-Round Feeding
Harvest Seed and Supply bird feeds are avaiable only at Chewy, Bass Pro Shop (why?), Sam’s Club, and Blain’s Farm and Fleet, where you can also buy underpants. No, I did not make that up. Click the links I just gave you.
When I was working, I used to spread expensive food all over like mother nature. Now that I am retired, I’ve become unbelievably cheap, which is why I now recognize a decent value when I find one. This link I give you for nada because the seed is that good.
Platform Feeder
This year round feed is only one of the offerings that Harvest Seed has. All of their mixes are corn-free and they offer both bags like this one and round suet cakes. I use this seed year round and every last drop of it is always gone so there is no waste. It is a reasonable price for a reasonable good. I’ve tried other brands, but there is no competition that I’ve found.
Little Birds
Finches are morons. They cannot eat large seed like sunflower seeds because they cannot crack the shells. But, give them hulled sunflower seeds and they will carefully chew the perfectly edible skin off and leave it in the feeder.
I feed them sunflower chips anyway. In a covered platform feeder with a screen grate bottom, and, in the winter, also in the window platform feeder. (See platform feeders.)
There are many brands of sunflower hearts and chips, but the prices and availability depend in large measure on the weather in the mid-west US. Both Morning Song and Kaytee offer good, clean mixes. But right now, the Morning Song is a much better value. Don’t buy the Kaytee mix — looks a lot like the sunflower bag — because it is loaded with corn and you’ll be throwing a lot away.
Cardinals
Like my father, I’ve got a soft spot for cardinals. It is because they are the kindest of the birds. They come to the feeders just before dawn and again just after dusk. They defer to almost all other birds.
The best thing about safflower seed is that most other birds do not like it. That makes it the ideal choice if you want to feed cardinals but probably not much of anything else.
That said, if the other feeders get bare, finches will eat safflower, as will grackles and redwing blackbirds. Still, it stays in the feeders longest so there is always a snack for one of your cardinals. Seems only to be at Chewy.
Winter Feeding
Once the snow is up a foot or so, the holes at the bottom of the fence are covered and I know I’m safe from any rodents that aren’t already in the garden. Since chipmunks (yes, I call them chipplemonkeys because it amuses me) hibernate, that leaves the mice that have had the foresight to cut a hole inside the garden from the house, and the red squirrel that takes up residence in a burrow under the decking before the snow gets too thick.
At that point, I take pity on the little juncos and start throwing seed on the ground. That’s a lot easier for me, since I don’t have to wade out all the time to the feeders or shovel a path when I don’t feel like it, and it keeps the creatures fed during the storms. Come spring, the squirrels, when they can get in, are more than happy to clean everything up.
Bluebirds
I’ve never successfully gotten bluebirds to my feeders — except for when it snows. And only while it is snowing mind you. They are apparently completely self-sufficient as long as there’s something not covered with snow. But the minute it starts snowing heavily, I’ll look out and see dozens of little round orange-bellied bluebirds going at the platform feeder with the hulled sunflower seed in it.
Since I’ve seen them come, I’ve started to buy a little sack of mealworms each year since I know they like them. When I know a storm is coming, I’ll top off the window platform feeders with a few mealworms for them.
Woodpeckers
I’ve had the same three types of woodpeckers at each of my New England homes, including this one in Maine. I get large red bellied woodpeckers, medium sized hairy woodpeckers, and little downy woodpeckers. I once said I was visited by all sorts of peckers only to be greeted by questioning glances from friends. Suspect that photo was a red bellied taken a hair too late.
Once woodpeckers get used to your feeders, you’ll find them at the oranges left out for the oriole and dipping into the hulled sunflowers left out for the finches. But their favorite winter treat is a good old suet cake.
Woodpecker cakes are rich with nuts and sunflower seeds. You’ll get more than woodpeckers on the suet feeder with this seed cake.
For a more classical suet cake, I like the Gold Seal cakes. And the birds seem to also. These give the birds quick feeds of high calorie fats along with nuggets of fruit and pieces of nuts. Like the woodpecker cake above, you get more than just woodpeckers liking these. These are also more cost effective than the solid seed cakes — you get 12 instead of 4 for the same price.
