Quality over quantity: The importance of good bird seed
A Goldfinch waits its turn to go to the finch feeder.
Buy locally grown for the best seed
Trying to save a buck when it comes to bird seed is not a wise decision… for a lot of reasons.
I found that out recently when I decided to pick up some cheap bird food at a local store known more for, let’s say, its car parts rather than bird food.
The specialty bird store I usually buy my seed from is in the next city over and involves a 20-minute drive, so I kept putting it off until it was too late and I needed to quickly restock my supply before a snowstorm hit.
A composite of a goldfinch and dark-eyed junco, the two birds that have taken to the new nyger seed.
The result is a large bag of bird seed that is maybe okay for the local squirrels and mice. (I’m actually putting the seed beneath our owl box hoping to attract mice to it to provide a ready-made food source for our little screech owl who lives in the yard.)
“Not only will a higher quality of seed attract more birds to your yard, it will attract a greater variety of birds.”
But, in searching the internet for a closer specialty store that stocks the seed cylinders I love so much, I discovered The Urban Nature Store – a Canadian-based bird and nature store that just happens to be located right in the small town where I live.
Turns out it’s been hiding just a couple kilometres away in plain sight for close to a year.
Why is this important? Because it verified what I already knew but choose to ignore to save a buck – high quality bird seed makes all the difference in the world. Not only high quality seed, but preferably seed that is locally sourced.
Not only will a higher quality of seed attract more birds to your yard, it will attract a greater variety of birds.
Let me explain.
On my first visit to The Urban Nature Store, I picked up a bag of nyger seed and a 25-pound bag of what they call their “no-mess blend” of bird seed.
My existing nyger seed was bringing in a grand total of zero gold finches, juncos or even sparrows, but within one day of filling the feeder with this new nyger seed, I had flocks of Juncos waiting in line to get their fill of this black gold. Today, I have a combination of juncos goldfinches and chipping sparrows lining up at the nyger feeder to get their fill of this important, high energy winter food source.
Cardinals, bluejays and a host of woodpeckers have reappeared in the yard since using a more locally sourced bird food.
There is a good reason why the old nyger proved unattractive to our backyard birds – it had simply dried out probably before I even brought it home. (For more on Nyger seed, go to my earlier post here.)
A few days after refilling the nyger feeders with this locally-purchased seed, I emptied our regular feeders at our main feeding station that was full of the cheap seed and replaced it with the no-mess blend seed from The Urban Nature Store. I also put one of the store’s seed cylinders up and within hours the feeding station was boiling over with birds lining up for a taste of this new seed. Cardinals, Blue Jays, Goldfinches, Dark eyed Juncos, mourning Doves, sparrows and a mix of woodpeckers including red-breasted and downy, just to name a few.
This was more bird action than I ever really got from even the best seed from my “other” specialized bird store in the next town over. This was truly remarkable.
The mess-mix is packaged in Canada using local and international ingredients, and combines sunflower hearts, peanut halves, dried cranberries and raisin. The mix is perfect for those who want to serve a variety of premium seeds with no messy leftovers. No shells means everything is eaten. The Nature Store reports that the seed mix is very popular with cardinals, chickadees, warblers and finches. Not sure about warblers, since they are primarily insect-eating birds.
And, since I have been using this seed, the number of birds at our feeding stations has only grown steadily.
Even the woodpeckers have returned with the new seed and seed cylinders from the Urban Nature Store.
“So what’s the difference?” you may ask.
Besides being a high-quality seed, an important difference is where it was sourced and the closer to home the better. This happens to be a Canadian-based store that sources much of its seed locally.
Who knows where big box stores source their seeds from, and I know that the other “specialized bird store” I purchased my seed from in the past was American based and likely sourced much of their seed from the U.S.
The closer you can purchase your seed, the more success you are likely to have. If you are based in the U.S., look for seed that was sourced nearby. The same holds true for U.K. based readers.
In the case of nyger seed, which mostly comes from Africa, the critical factors are how old the seed is and, if it has been overcooked in ovens that remove the natural oils that give the seed its nutrients. Purchasing from a specialized bird food store helps guarantee high turnover and is less likely to leave you buying old seed that has not been handled properly.
Not only has the seed from my local Nature Store been a magnet for local birds, the seed cylinder that I purchased is still going strong more than a week after mounting it, despite continued snow and rainfall that often prematurely weakens other seed cylinders I have used in the past. The fact it has held up so well means an extended run for the woodpeckers rather than the seed cylinder breaking up and falling to the ground for the squirrels and other critters.
If you have taken the time to check out The urban Nature Store link here, you will find that it is a wholly-owned and operated chain of Canadian stores with its head offices based in Toronto. It does offer mail-order for some products for anyone who does not live near one of its 9 store locations in
Ancaster/Hamilton
Etobicoke/Toronto West
Kingston
Markham
Mississauga
North York/Toronto East
Oshawa
Pickering
St. Catharines
I encourage all my readers to check out their impressive web site and support a truly Canadian company.
However, I recognize that we have many American and UK followers who cannot or choose not to purchase from The Canadian based Urban Nature Store.
All I am saying is that whenever possible – especially when it comes to purchasing bird seed – buy it from a local supplier. If the results I am having means anything, It really does make a difference.
Fresh bird seed that comes from a locally sourced supplier can make all the difference in the world to your bird feeding success.
They’re boisterous, bullies that add a hit of colour to our backyards. Blue Jays are one of the most beloved birds in our gardens, but it was not long ago when they were threatened by a deadly virus that wiped out hundreds of thousands of birds.