Wild Bird Feed Product Basics - Wild Bird Feeding Institute

Wild Bird Feed Products

Learn the basics about the types of wild bird feeding products.

Types of Bird Seed

Members of the Wild Bird Feeding Institute use a variety of seed types, and there are alternative feeds, too, that are available for you to purchase for your bird feeding station. Use specific seeds to attract a wide variety of wild birds. Some examples of common seed types are pictured below.

A feeding station with multiple feeder styles.

Seed products and feeders

You have many options for your wild bird feeding hobby. According to our PROJECT WILDBIRD research, many people have 4 to 5 different wild bird feeder styles providing multiple sources of wild bird feeding products in their yards to help many wild bird species.

To help you understand which bird feeders work with which products, check out our Bird Feeding Starter Kit. You'll discover much of the basic information you need in this free download.

Wild bird food preferences

The additional piece of information you'll need is which bird feed is preferred by the wild birds in your region. To assist you with this information, download our Bird Feed Preference Chart.

Straight seed, mixes, suet & cakes

Now that you know which bird feed attracts either the widest variety of wild birds in your region or the specific wild bird species you want to see, you'll need to decide with bird seed to use - straight seed or a mix?

Straight seed is just that - a package that contains only one type of seed like Black Oil Sunflower or Safflower. Use a Straight Seed when you want to attract specific bird species instead of a variety of bird species.
Mixes are blended by a wild bird feed packer and include multiple types of wild bird feed designed to appeal to a wide variety of wild birds. The wild bird feed packer uses a recipe in order to ensure consistency of the product year round.
Suet products are wonderful sources of fat that wild birds use for energy. You'll find many flavors of suet at your wild bird store, so be sure to reference our Bird Feed Preference Chart to see which flavor you want to offer your birds.
Seed cakes or bells are a tasty (to the birds) source of wild bird feed that are held together with a safe fixative. These products can be a bird feed mix or a straight seed. Like a straight seed or mix, refer to our Bird Feed Preference Chart to see which bird feeds appeal to the birds you want to feed.

For more assistance and information, be sure to visit Backyard Bird Sanctuary.

project wildbird seed preference and feeder chart

Click the image to download a pdf of this chart.

A seed cake made from golden safflower.

Resources for additional information

6-Steps for a backyard bird sanctuary

#FeedSmart: keep healthy birdfeeders

The Members of the WBFI are the experts on the hobby of wild bird feeding. If you've got questions about wild birds, here is a list of some of the experts on wild birds:

Cornell University - The GEO-PIE Project was developed to create objective educational materials exploring the complex scientific and social issues associated with genetic engineering, to help readers consider those issues for themselves

The information contained in this website is unofficial and not intended to represent the opinion or position of the WBFI, its staff, its Board of Directors, or its members. WBFI does not guarantee the accuracy of this report.