Feeding wild birds - Wild bird feeding - what's best to feed wild birds in your backyard.

Feeding wild birds provides us great opportunities to view our feathered friends up close and personal. Wild bird feeding can also be good for birds, but if you are going to feed wild birds, you want to educate yourself on the best practices to avoid any problems and help keep the birds safe. Feeding wild birds will provide easy food sources during the harsh winter months and migration periods.

Wild bird feeding stations should be maintained properly and kept clean or disease can kill individual birds sometimes in large numbers. If you love to feed wild birds you must place wild bird feeders away from dangers such as thick brush where predators can hide. Also when wild birds are feeding and they fly off from feeders, they can crash into our windows — about 50% of all birds that crash into windows will die soon after.

Feeding wild birds can be very exciting if you are careful to look out for the best interest of our feathered friends.

Below is a chart about what kinds of wild bird food are best for the birds you want to attract,

Here is a very comprehensive chart of what food different species of birds prefer.
For the largest variety of birds to visit you providing multiple feeders will bring wonderful results.

Type of Bird	Food Preference
Blue Jays	Sunflower seed, safflower, cracked corn, peanuts, suet, bread, peanut butter, lard mixes, seed mixes
House Finch	Mixed seed, peanuts, fruit, suet, niger, sunflower, safflower, thistle
Gold Finch	Thistle/nyger, sunflower seed, hulled sunflower, millet, fruit, suet, peanuts
House Wren	Suet, bread crumbs
House Sparrow	Mixed seed, sunflower seeds
Wrens	Suet, suet mix, peanut butter, bread, apples
Indigo Bunting	Peanuts, millet, variety of seeds
Northern Flicker	Suet, peanut butter, sunflower seeds, fruit, meat, bread
Oriole	Oranges, apples, grape jelly, oriole jelly, sugar water, soft raisins
Painted Bunting	Sunflower seeds, seed mixes
Pine Grosbeak	Sunflower seeds, grain
Pine Siskin	Nuts, rolled oats, thistle, mixed seeds, sunflower seeds, sunflower chips, millet, suet
Purple Finch	Sunflower seeds, thistle
Red Crossbills	Sunflower seeds, thistle
Red Poll	Suet, bread, sunflower seeds
Red Winged Blackbird	Bread, cracked corn, mixed seeds, sunflower seeds, sunflower chips, millet, suet
Robins, Bluebirds, Thrushes	Apples, sunflower seed, bread, grapes, suet, mealworms, berries, raisins, nut meal, seed mixes
Rose Breasted Grosbeaks	Sunflower seeds, grapes, orange halves
American Gold Finch	Sunflower seeds, thistle/niger
Black Billed Magpie	Meat, bread
Bobwhite Quail	Sunflower seeds, seed mixes
Brown Headed Cowbird	Bread, cracked corn, sunflower seeds, seed mixes
Bushtit	Bread, sunflower seeds, bird seed mixes
Cardinals	Cracked corn, nuts, sunflower seeds, safflower, millet, peanuts, apple, bread
Black Capped Chickadees	Sunflower seeds, peanuts, bread, suet
Crows	Bread, scraps, corn, suet
Magpies	Scraps, suet, peanuts, bread
Downy Woodpeckers	Sunflower seeds, corn, cornbread, peanut butter, suet, shelled peanuts, sunflower seeds
Grosbeaks	Sunflower seeds, safflower, apple, fruit, suet, millet, bread, peanut kernels
Buntings	Sunflower seeds, safflower, apple, fruit, suet, millet, bread, peanut kernels
Grackles	Sunflower seeds, bread, scraps
Titmouse	Sunflower seeds, suet, bread, safflower, peanuts, peanut kernel
Chickadees	Peanut kernel, sunflower seeds, suet, bread, safflower
Nuthatches	Suet, suet mix, sunflower seeds, nuts, cracked corn, bread
Creepers	Suet, suet mix, sunflower seeds, nuts, cracked corn, bread
Mockingbirds	Halved apples, fruit, bread, suet, sunflower seeds, nuts
Thrashers	Halved apples, fruit, bread, suet, sunflower seeds, nuts
Flycatchers, Phoebes	Bees, wasps, ants, mealworms
Kinglets	Suet, bread
Waxwings	Berries, raisins, sliced apple, canned peas, currants, grapes
Warblers	Suet, suet mix, water, fruit, breads, sugar water, nut pieces
Tanagers	Suet, fruit, sugar water, mealworms, bread
Song Sparrows	Sunflower seeds, seed mixes, bread, thistle, millet
Starlings	Bread, scraps, suet
Stellers Jays	Nuts, scraps, suet
Tree Sparrows	Wild bird seed mixes, millet
Sparrows	Millet, peanut kernels, suet, bread, canary seed, sunflower seed
White Breasted Nuthatches	Peanuts, sunflower seeds, suet, safflower
Hairy Woodpeckers	Sunflower seeds, nuts, cheese, apples, bananas, suet, peanut butter
Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers	Nutmeats, suet, fruit
Quail	Cracked corn, millet, berries
Pigeons	Cracked corn, sunflower seeds, milo, bread, thistle, nuts
Doves	Cracked corn, sunflower seeds, milo, bread, thistle, nuts
Roadrunners	Meat scraps, suet
Hummingbirds	Plant nectars, small insects, sugar water, instant nectars
Woodpeckers	Insects, fruit, sunflower seeds, suet, nuts, sugar water
Western Tanagers, Scarlet Tanagers	Orange halves, grapes
Juncos	Millet, sunflower seeds, cracked corn, peanuts, bread, nut meats, thistle, suet
Towhees	Millet, sunflower seeds, peanuts, grapes, cracked corn, suet
Rufhouse Sided Towhee	Bird seed mixes, thistle, sunflower seeds, millet, cracked corn
Baltimore Oriole	Suet, orange halves
Brown Thrashers	Orange halves, cracked corn
Carolina Wrens	Suet, sunflower chips
Cat Birds	Raisins, grapes, orange halves, suet
Mourning Dove	Millet, thistle, sunflower chips, safflower, cracked corn
Pileated Woodpeckers	Suet
Red Bellied Woodpeckers	Suet, sunflower seeds, peanuts, orange halves, safflower, cracked corn