Backyard wild
birds come in all shapes and sizes. They eat nuts,
seeds, berries, fruit, and insects. They welcome
wintertime sprinklings of seeds in the snow. You
may think that birds are light eaters, but it is
quite the opposite. They are actually big eaters.
Birds need plenty of food to produce the energy
their bodies require to maintain a fast metabolism.
This fast metabolic rate allows them to fly. They
spend much of their time looking for, and eating,
food. Seeds can be purchased at your local supermarkets.
The ready-made mixes usually contain a lot of wheat,
buckwheat, milo and other filler seeds and grains.
Sunflower seeds are very easy to find. They come
in two varieties, striped and smaller black oil
seeds. Even though some of the smaller birds have
trouble cracking the sunflower seed's shell, most
birds love it! Plus it provides the birds with more
fat and therefore more energy. If you make your
own mix, check your feeder for leftovers and adjust
the proportions to the birds' preferences.
Finches love thistle, in fact, thistles are special
plants to finches. They feed their young on the
immature fruit. These plants also produce "floss".
This floss comes from the flowers that have gone
to seed and left their fluffy seed heads behind.
Finches frequently select thistles' floss for structural
and lining materials for their nests. Often thistles
mature before the finches nest, thus providing them
with fresh new floss. Some thistle heads never open
completely, which traps last year's floss, making
the product readily available for an energetic finch.
An
imported thistle "niger" seed, from Africa
and Asia, is high in protein and fat. It has an
added bonus value of not attracting squirrels or
blackbirds. |
