I blogged snarkily in the past about our local sparrows throwing away most of the food in our birdfeeders. They used their beaks like spatulas and tossed the food out of the feeders and onto the ground. I mocked them for being wasteful, but the real problem was me and the food I had bought from Costco.
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| This is trash. |
I spent a little time researching good bird seed and discovered that birds don't like milo. Milo is a cheap filler sometimes put into birdseed. The birds hate it and won't eat it. Oh sure, sometimes the mourning doves will consume it, but none of them like it. It's horrible.
The second ingredient in this bag is milo.
It's trash.
When you buy birdseed, don't get anything with milo in it. Milo is different than millet, by the way. I had thought I was saving money by getting this for a low price at Costco, but all I was doing was littering my yard with inedible seeds and blowing money on junk. I've got a new bag on the way from Amazon and if my winged children like it, I'll let you know.
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Yeah, we mainly feed sunflower and thistle (nyger)seeds, with suet in the winter for the woodpeckers. They love those. The squirrels do too, of course, but squirrels are also fun to watch. And, of course, sugar water in the summer for the hummingbirds.
We have to discontinue the suet right about now, though, because bears like it too. We've had a bear get into our feeders in the past. It isn't pretty.
Tim, where do you get your food?
Generally either Erickson's Feed and Seed (which is a local store and doesn't help you much), or Tractor Supply (which might, I see there are at least four Tractor Supply stores in the general vicinity of San Diego). We buy the nyger seed in 5-10 lb bags, and the sunflower seeds in 20-25 lb bags. We get the suet from the frozen meat section of the grocery store.
Roger that. Thanks!
I've been the main food supply, seemingly, for the birds, squirrels, and rabbits around here. The squirrels and rabbits just want the sunflower and similar big seeds. The birds it most anything. I generally get the country mix at Menards. Which helps no one on this blog. But I lately have been getting a nut mix, that seems popular.
We have a Thistle bag as well, probably needs replacing, as it's been up all winter.
About a month ago, as the snow was starting to melt, I realized that the ground was an inch deep in shells and discarded seed. I got out there and scooped up 2 tall kitchen trash bags full the oozy junk. This was spread out over 6 foot by 4 foot oval. Messy creatures. But you have to figure the rabbits and squirrels will be good collapse of society food.
The birds, squirrels, and rabbits are also a good floor show for the indoor cat.
The whole "birds hate milo" thing reminds me of the running theme in "The Seven Samurai", where everybody wanted rice and were constantly complaining because their rice had been stolen and all they had left to eat was millet.
Except that milo is apparently even worse than millet. Birds will reportedly eat millet.
==I generally get the country mix at Menards.==
I helps me not because I refuse to give Menard's another cent after they went full Mask-Nazi during the plandemic.
Also, I gave up *intentionally* feeding the critters at least a couple of decades ago, though I still have the feeders in the basement. It was the damned greedy/wasteful squirrels who made me give it up.
Must have been a localized thing. I never saw any difference between Menards, Lowes, and Home Depot during the pandemic.
I mean other than Home Depot is the worst place on earth. Maybe slight exaggeration, but the one in Woodbury, Mn, closest to my old house, was recognized by all I met as the worst one in the Twin Cities. Including a friend of my son's who worked there.
In both the Menard's here in Mansfield Ohio and the one in my birth-hometown of South Bend, Indiana, Menard's employees followed me around and harassed me about not wearing a face-diaper. In fact, in South Bend, the "greeter" threatened to call security when my sister and I walked in without face-diapers.
In contrast, I never wore a face-diaper in Lowe's, Home Depot, or Meijer's, and was never harassed.
And it's such a shame, because I much preferred Menard's to Lowe's and Home Depot.
Yeah, even when I do stop by Home Depot, I generally end up buying from Lowe's.
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