Birds are surprisingly selective in their eating habits, as you will quickly find. They seem to have a sixth sense for the most expensive kinds of food. Watch a blue jay carefully sorting through a tray of mixed grains. What is he after? Sunflower seeds, of course! And at a few cents per pound. None of this nickel-a-pound chick feed for him! This is rough on the pocketbook and should not be encouraged by lavish feeding of high priced seeds, but do not berate the jays too much. They are the watchmen of your garden. They will be the first to see a hunting cat or a circling hawk, and give noisy warning to your other friends.
And do not begrudge the pesky little English sparrows what they eat, either, for they will be the very first birds to find your feeding stations, and will lead other and more shy birds to them. These two, the jays and the English sparrows, are pests in many ways, but they repay you by rendering good services.
For the general run of winter birds, a medium size chick feed is a good dependable offering. Mix in a small amount of sunflower seed, perhaps five pounds of it to fifty pounds of chick feed. Also, if the chick feed does not already have some grit in it, add five pounds of fine gravel or crushed oyster shell to each 50 pound sack of chick mix. The birds need this to help grind their food, and to provide calcium for their systems.
A few birds justify special attention. The titmouse and the chickadee much prefer only sunflower seeds. and they are dainty eaters. Provide a small separate station for them if you can. This can be quite close to your window because they are very friendly birds, and such a location will somewhat discourage the others.
Dessert Too!
Suet and peanut butter are quick-energy foods for the birds. The colder the weather the more they need these heat-producing items. Suet should be enclosed in a "cage" to discourage greedy visitors from carrying off large chunks of it at one time. A cage can be made of half-inch mesh hardware cloth, or a metal soap dish will do an excellent job. Some people hesitate to use metal containers in cold weather and place their suet in cloth or string mesh bags. This is fine, but the string will. rot. and no bird has yet complained of cold feet when he can get a free serving of suet.
Peanut butter should be mixed with a binder and extender, for you know how annoying it is to get a gob of it behind your tongue. Cracker crumbs or corn meal are good for this. Mix about half-and-half, or until you have a putty-like mixture which you can press into holes bored into a section of log or stick. Hang this stick in a convenient place and watch the tiny beauties come quickly to it.
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