Winter Bird Feeding

Birds at Your Feeder

Biologists have conducted "taste tests" with birds. They have found that birds, like people, have preferences for different kinds of food. These foods can be offered selectively to help attract or discourage certain birds. They can also be used in combinations to attract a variety of visitors to your feeder.

The table below shows the preferred foods of some of Washington's most common winter birds.

Species White millet Red millet Milo Black sunflower Hulled sunflower Peanut kernel Thistle (niger seed) Cracked corn Suet California Quail           Rock Dove (pigeon)           Mourning Dove           Woodpeckers                 Steller’s Jay             Chickadees               Bushtit                 Nuthatches               Wrens                 Starling               House Sparrow             Evening Grosbeak                 House Finch             Pine Siskin               American Goldfinch         Rufous-sided Towhee               Dark-eyed Junco             White-crowned Sparrow               Song Sparrow