This is a quick look at what you want to find in your mixes and what you don´t. The purpose of mixed birdseed should always be to increase the number of bird visits and the variety of birds visiting, not decrease cost. A good rule of thumb is not to purchase a mixed seed that is less expensive than pure black oil sunflower. This will prevent you froom buying a mix in which black oil sunflowers is not the primary ingredient and in which "filler" seeds have been added to fill out the bag.

Black Oil Sunflower: The single most preferred seed you can offer. It should always be the primary ingredient (listed first) in any mixed birdseed. Cardinals, grosbeaks, chickadees, titmice, nuthathces, and finches all flock to this seed. Black oil sunflower is the cornerstone of a sound feeding program.

Black Stripe Sunflower: Although eaten by some of the larger birds, such as Northern Cardinals any birds in the grosbeak family, it is still not a s readily eaten as black oil sunflower. It is also more difficult for birds like chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches to open. In addition, it has a lower mealt-to-shell ratio than oilers, meaning that there is more shell and less meat for the birds; it is also more expensive. This seed is fine in a mix, but not as the primary ingredient.

Peanut Kernelsor Splits (Halves): These are perhaps the second most attractive food you can put out for the birds. Peanuts kernels, or splits, should not be confused with the tiny "peanut hearts," the little nib that is rejected in the manufacture of peanut butter. The birds that you want to attract with peanuts - jays, woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, and Northern Cardinals - prefer kernels.

White Proso Millet: These small pearly white seeds are most preferred by ground-feeding birds, which is why you don´t put millet in tube feeders. The birds that can use a tube feeder will just sweep the millet out, forcing you to fill your feeder more often. Most sparrows, doves, juncos, towhees, buntings, and Red-winged Blackbirds are attracted to millet. It is best served either on a platform/fly-through feeder, a slightly elevated ground feeder, or broadcast directly on the ground.

Whole Peanuts: If you want to attract jays, offer whole peanuts. Jays have been known to learn the sound of whole peanuts hitting the bottom of a feeder and will come flying in from every direction. Due to their large size, whole peanuts must be offered in open feeders. In addition to jays, whole peanuts will also attract crows, magpies, titmice, and woodpeckers.

Safflower: The problem-solver seed. What makes safflower a good addition to a feeding station is not what it attracts, but what it doesn´t. Safflower is not attractive to grackles, European Starlings, and Squirrels. However, it loses any of that value when offered in a mix; the visitores you are trying to discourage by using safflwoer will still come to the mix and either sweep away the safflower to get to the other seeds or just leave it there. This is an excellent seed to offer by itself.

Nyjer (Thristle): Nyjer is another seed for offering on its own, in a specialized feeder designed for economical dispensing of this expensive seed. It is most attractive to American Goldfinches, Common Redpolls, and Pine Siskins

Corn: Although jays and some woodpeckers will often consume corn, either cracked or whole, there are so many other things to offer these birds that they prefer even more. Corn, especially the cracked variety, is used primarily as a filler product. In warm, wet weather, cracked corn has a tendency to mold rapidly and is NOT recommended. Squirrels, on the other hand, relish a good corn snack; use corn to feed your squirrels, not your birds

Mixed Grain Product: The catchall phrase used when a birdseed mix is designed with price in mind, not for attracting birds. It can contain wheat, oats, rice, flax, milo, canary seed, and others. Although it makes a very inexpensive seed, it also makes a very unattractive seed mix. These ingredients are best avoided, as they contribute little to the success of your feeding station.