Different birds like different types of wild bird food. Sunflower seeds attract most seed-eating birds.
The most attractive sunflower seed is the black, oil-type. Another outstanding food is a type of millet, known as white prove or white millet. White millet attracts house sparrows and brown-headed cowbirds.
A common ingredient in mixes, peanut hearts, strongly attracts starlings. You can discourage house sparrows, brown-headed cowbirds, blue jays, and grackles while at the same time offering a moderately attractive food to cardinals and mourning doves by feeding safflower seeds.
Safflower is of little interest to other bird species, however.
| American goldfinch | hulled sunflower seeds, niger seeds, and oil-type sunflower seeds. |
| Blue Jay | peanut kernels, black-stripe, gray-stripe, and oil-type sunflower seeds. |
| Brown-headed cowbird | white proso, red proso, German millet, and canary seed. |
| Cardinal | sunflower seeds of all types. |
| Chickadees | oil-type and black-striped sunflower seeds, peanut kernels. |
| Dark-eyed junco | red proso, white proso millet, canary seed, and fine-cracked corn. |
| Common grackle | hulled sunflower seeds and cracked corn. |
| Evening grosbeak | sunflower seeds and cracked corn. |
| House finch | In Maryland, oil-type and black-striped sunflower seeds, sunflower kernels and pieces, and niger. In California, white prove millet and flax also readily taken. |
| House sparrow | white proso millet, canary seed, and German (“golden”) millet. |
| Mourning dove | oil-type sunflower seeds, white prove millet, niger, and German (“golden”) millet. |
| Purple finch | sunflower seeds and kernels. |
| Starling | peanut hearts and hulled oats. |
| Song sparrow | white and red prove millet. |
| Tufted titmouse | peanut kernels, black-striped and oil-type sunflower seeds. |
| White-crowned sparrow | oil-type sunflower seed, sunflower kernels and pieces, white and red prove millet, peanut kernels and hearts, niger seed. |
| White-throated sparrow | oil and black-striped sunflower seeds, sunflower kernels and pieces, white and red prove millet, and peanut kernels. |