Safflower vs Sunflower- what do birds prefer?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ม.ค. 2022
- This is a very unscientific experiment with hulled seeds. If you want to feed the birds without the mess on the ground under the feeders you need to feed seeds without hulls. This type of feed is expensive compared to regular bird feed with black sunflower seeds with the shell on.
I’ll do a follow up video when one of the feeders in this video is empty.
#birdwatching #birdfeeder #bird - บันเทิง
Mr. Satchwell, Thank you for all the feeders you make. I love to try to make feeders from natural stuff around my yard. Always enjoy your vids.
So nice of you thanks. I just counted 9 cardinals at the feeders and dozen of other birds. Hope your feeders are busy today as well. Happy birding in 2022, Larry
I live in western New York and this was the first winter I fed the backyard birds. I put hulled sunflower seeds out and the goldfinches, chickadees and cardinals loved them. Then the spring return of dozens of grackles and starlings happened. They completely displaced all the other birds so I started using safflower seed since I am told the grackles and starlings don't like the bitter taste. The grackles and starlings have moved on and the cardinals have returned but I haven't seen a goldfinch since. Maybe they will come back next fall. The cardinals gobble up the safflower seeds and so do chickadees and house finches. I have occasionally put a scoop of sunflower seeds out and am swamped with grackles and starlings again. No more sunflower seeds until those birds fly south. 😂
Thanks for watching and sharing. For whatever reason, and hope I don’t jinx myself, but we don’t have starlings. I grew up in Illinois and we had loads of them there. I get and occasional grackle but never in multiples. My biggest thief are the squirrels.
I’m glad the safflower seeds are working.
My experience exactly. Another advantage of safflower seed is that squirrels - at least the Grey Squirrels in my locale (Quebec) - detest it. Chipmunks love it though, but that's only a problem in the summer and easily solved with a baffle.
Interesting videos Larry. I also enjoyed your home made suet feeders and recipe. I’m new to the Midwest and still learning the birds here and what they like. Your experiment and other videos help as they have all been more steps in my learning curve. Thanks! 👍
Thank you for watching. I grew up in Illinois before moving to Georgia as an adult. I remember seeing a lot of starlings there. Luckily I’ve never had a problem with them here. It should be interesting to see what comes by as many birds are migrating right now. Happy birding
We’re just north oh Indy. You seem to have a great location there, what with the woods, enough room for horses and a good sized workshop. Is it ok if I’m a little jealous? 😉. Cheers!
BTW, we’ve had no issues with starlings yet but have had a few grackles hit the feeders. They seem to have trouble hanging onto the perch and haven’t been back for a couple of weeks. Hopefully they’ve given up.
@@kingbird4925 😄40 years in the making, but you’re right, I love it here on our 5 acres. Houses are closing in fast though. Thanks for watching and commenting
Nice video chief. I absolutely luv birds . I go out of my way to feed them
Same here
thanks, enjoyed much,
Thanks, glad you liked it. Happy holidays
There is a great bird food which has both and mealworms.
It's known for attracting bluebirds.
Wal Mart has it.
I don't mind turkeys and ground feeders getting leftovers So many walnuts this year that squirrels haven't bothered feeders
We fixed the feeder to south facing porch for winter. Now cat is watching bird tv daily
Two loads of wood, even with help, I'm on couch watching your feeders.😉🐦🕊️
Raining here, cold on way..
Hope chairs got built.
🙂
Rain here too and cold. I’m missing summer. I was amazed at how many different bird seed mixes are out there. As for under the feeders, we have raccoons and possums nightly. I also let the chickens free range every afternoon and they make a beeline to the feeders as soon as I open the door. Stay safe and warm. Thanks for watching and commenting.
@@LSatch 🐦👍🌹💯🌷💐
Last year, when I was living in NJ I stopped using sunflower seed, I used only Nyjer seed, Safflower seed, and suet. Nyjer seed is only eaten by Gold Finches, Pine Siskins, and Redpolls, other birds, and squirrels will not eat it. Safflower seed is mostly eaten by Cardinals and House Finches, many other birds like Chickadees and Nuthatches will not, however, if you have problems with starlings and house sparrows, Safflower seed is a good deterrent. Suet, depending on where you live, Starlings could be a problem. Last month I started using Sunflower chips in one of my feeders, and it's a big hit with the Pine Warblers who don't like to dehusk the shelled seeds. Also, now that I'm living in NC, dried mealworms, though expensive, attract Bluebirds, Warblers, and other types of Thrushes.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I only really started birding during the shutdown of the pandemic so I’m still learning and experimenting.
I’ve never used safflower before. We do feed a lot of sunflower seeds. I’ve been watching for hours over the last few days since I put those feeders side by side. I counted at least 9 cardinals this morning (they kept moving). None of them have yet to try either the safflower or the hulled sunflower seeds.
Please keep sharing your thoughts and knowledge, much appreciated, thanks.
In Arkansas the chickadees in my area love safflower and titmouses,cards also.I was surprised by the post saying saying they didn't.If I misread it, I am sorry.
Haha, you big bully you took away the one they liked best! Thanks Larry, that's a fun project.
I kept looking at him because I thought he was going to come back while I was talking. Thanks for watching.
If I'm not mistaken, that first bird was a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, I get them too, rarely.
Yes, I believe so, that’s why I left it in the video even though he didn’t eat anything.
Jedd's has 50 LBS for $54 but shipping is also $1 per LB! $110 for 50 LBS delivered Hulled Sunflower Seed Royal Feeds
Not familiar with Jedds but that’s a lot of $$$ to feed birds. I for one couldn’t afford that. Thanks for watching and sharing
Every day im in Town i give something. Usually unsalted peanuts crushed or bread and peanut butter before work. Or anything
You’re a good person George.
The birds have been favoring Safflower seeds here for the past year or two over Sunflower seeds. Pretty weird and unexpected. I have to keep filling the Safflower Feeder while the Sunflower Feeder remains full. It started with the Cardinals, but the other birds joined in.
That’s interesting. I haven’t used it for a while. We’ll need to buy feed this week so maybe I’ll pick some up.
@@LSatch~ Safflower seeds cost more. Probably the reason the birds are now eating them like crazy. 🤪👍🏻
@@ScottCrothers of course 😄
The same in michigan sunflower is 5 stare
I just bought 50 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds today. I’m going to stop buying the wild bird seed mix because they waist too much. Thanks for sharing
I’m in Missouri. My house finches 100% of the time prefer the safflower. Chickadees sometimes do too when presented with both. Gold finches always go for the sunflower of course, as do the cardinals, and titmice. My woodpeckers don’t like either (downy, red bellied)-they only eat peanuts, and if I’m low on that they eat their peanut suet or a woodpecker blend suet.
I’ve also never seen any blue jays eat black oiled sunflower. They will only eat peanuts-and if those aren’t around then they don’t bother coming around at all.
And yes I always use the seed types for everything I mentioned above since I have too much rain in Missouri. I only will put out hulled sunflower seeds maybe 3-4x per week, and only a small amount that can be eaten in less than a day. I do that for the gold finches-since those are the ONLY ones from the first set of birds that I mentioned that don’t like to open a seed. ALL the others prefer to crack open a seed. It’d annoying and I have a ton of those seed catchers. I basically have 20-25 feeders going at 1x (I feed arojnd 200 backyard birds during the winter, maybe more), which means majority need seed catchers since I don’t use any hulled seeds.
I also have never had success attracting blue birds with high quality mealworms. They either go to waste or to the starlings or opossums when I put them in a larger feeder. This winter I’ve only had 1 day in which I saw bluebirds-and they were drinking the hell out of my heated water since everything had iced over! Arojnd 15 of them drinking all at once. That was pretty cool.
Thanks for sharing. I haven’t bought any safflower seeds this year. We have a lot of finches right now so maybe I should.
@@MissouriBirds we only get a blue jay every now and then. I usually have peanuts out but the stray jays never stick around.
Thanks for your videos. Appears there is some confusion between black oil sunflower SEEDS and HEARTS. Of course, you know the difference, but some of your viewers probably don't. Birds have to crack open the SEEDS in order to get to the HEARTS. But you can buy the hearts that have already had the outer seed removed. The hearts are more expensive. Same goes for striped sun flower seeds that are toasted and salted for human consumption. For salads, we buy the hearts.--------- As for price, look for a Tractor Supply in your area. They have the best prices I've found for black oil sunflower seeds but be aware that prices can vary from one Tractor Supply store to another Tractor Supply store.
Where I live, one store sells 40 lbs for $24.99 but another store 30 miles away sells it for $29.99 for 40 lbs. Each store is the same distance from my house.
Beware of the brand of black oil sunflower seeds carried by Walmart because it has lots of trash in with the seeds which you're paying for because the bags are sold by weight.
Great points Luke. Those prices are right in line with the prices around here. I usually buy hearts when I’m making suet, otherwise we buy the seeds. The Walmart bargain bird food is terrible. Thanks for watching and sharing. Larry
😊
Did you make the feeders? If yes, may I ask how? Are the sunflower seeds striped or black oil?
Yes I made the feeders, th-cam.com/video/x87MVennP0M/w-d-xo.html
and the one with the dome, th-cam.com/video/8F8MQA-JWUk/w-d-xo.html
as for the sunflower seeds, I just bought the ones that were shelled. I assumed they were black oil but the package didn't say as I recall. They were from walmart.
Thanks for watching.
Hello! Can you tell please, what is the woodpecker eating in this video?
At around 8:10 there is a downy woodpecker eating suet in the background. Hope this answers your question. Thanks for watching
@@LSatch thank you 🙂 I hang lard for woodpeckers in winter.
@@ainuraiskakova2640 You're welcome. That is suet made of lard.
Cardinals two favorite seeds
Yes indeed.
I buy cracked sunflower seeds at Petsmart....8 pounds, $11.99. Cheapest I could find where I live. San Jose, CA
Thanks for sharing, I’ll check ours out
But squirrels don't eat safflower seeds!
Great point! Thanks for watching
Tractor supply bird seed especially in winter and water
Yes, thanks
Hulled seeds are gonna get eaten first .
No doubt but they were both hulled.