Best birdseed

Choosing a high-quality birdseed blend is one of the best ways to entice local wildlife into your backyard. Depending on the recipe, it can also draw in critters like squirrels and chipmunks. Our best overall birdseed from Wagner's is a great starting point for first-time avian restauranteurs. Its carefully crafted recipe, including black oil sunflower seeds and corn kernels, is proven to bring in all sorts of small, colorful songbirds that perch and forage. 

When choosing a birdseed, you want to find something with high-fat ingredients. This ensures birds have the right nutrition to survive year round, even through severe weather patterns. Fruit, suet, insects, and nuts are all worthy additions to birdseed, so I made sure to include a couple of blends loaded with those nutritional elements as well! Check out the selection below, and keep your feathered friends well-fed with the best birdseed blends money can buy.

Most birds we see in our backyard here in North America like to perch in trees or on railings and forage on the ground. Wagner's Deluxe Blend wild birdseed is aimed directly at their preferences. They jazzed up an all-purpose seed blend consisting primarily of millet and safflower by adding black oil sunflower seeds for additional fat and corn kernels for a protein boost. Ingredients like these will bring finches and other small songbirds looking for heartier nutrition to your patio or window. A single 10-pound bag of this seed should be enough to feed your bird buddies for a few months—be sure to store it in a dry, dark place to keep it fresh.

If you want to show your neighborhood birds how much you care, serving them black oil sunflower seeds is the way to do it. You're probably already familiar with striped sunflower seeds, the most common variety; humans and birds alike love to eat the meaty seed within and spit the shell out. Black oil sunflower seeds, however, are named for their color and exceptionally high fat content. Another perk is that black oil sunflower seed husks are papery thin and can be torn off easily by even small-beaked birds. 

So, overall, more birds will gravitate to these seeds instead of the striped variety. Kaytee's black oil sunflower wild bird feed is made solely of those uniquely obsidian kernels—no filler, no other sorts of seeds—just the good stuff. As a result, their single-seed bird food offers superior nutrition, which improves the annual survival rate of your local bird population over time.

Wagner's blends clearly dominate the birdseed market, and it's thanks to their high-quality ingredients and carefully formulated recipes. Their Eastern Regional Blend wild bird food is aimed directly at birds native to the Eastern seaboard of the United States. It contains a selection of sunflower, safflower, nyjer, and other seeds known to draw songbirds to your feeder. Yes, it includes millet and milo, a couple of common filler seeds—but in this case, it works to create a well-rounded blend. This mix might be a little too inclusive, come to think of it. While cracked corn is a nutritious and economic component of many birdseed blends, it's also a favorite of squirrels. Be prepared for battle because your local squirrels might gobble up that corn before the birds can.

While you might be tempted to snack on this trail-mix-esque bird food, it's best to leave Lyric's Fruit & Nut high-energy blend to the birds. Filler-free formulation and pre-shelled nuts and seeds mean that there's a minimal amount of waste if any. In addition, dried cranberries and raisins add a colorful component to Lyric's recipe, enticing fruit-loving birds like cedar waxwings, nuthatches, and titmice. A bonus to pre-shelled feed is that the nuts and seeds fail to sprout wherever they land, as a protective shell is required to trigger growth. Typically, you can bake your birdseed mixes to discourage germination. Still, it's nice to have it ready to scatter right away—after all, those birds are hungry!

Songbirds require ongoing nutrition year-round due to their extremely high metabolism. They don't hibernate either, so providing food with a high-fat percentage is critical in colder months. Cole's Nutberry Suet blend provides an ideal combination of nutrients, thanks to a mix including small "kibbles" of insect-infused suet for an extra dose of fat and protein. It also has dried fruit and nuts incorporated into the recipe, making it extremely attractive to all of the wildlife in your backyard. 

You can scatter it on the ground, and rabbits and chipmunks might be drawn to the suet chunks while sparrows and wrens carry on with the seeds. Larger species like blackbirds and orioles are especially interested in fruit, so expect to see more of them if they're endemic to your area. Bluejays, robins, and even red-headed woodpeckers love this blend, so get ready for a well-populated backyard from this day forward.

Feed the birds, tuppence a bag

Of course, the best birdseed costs a bit more than it did in Mary Poppins' time, but feeding your local birds is an affordable way to help them survive the cold weather. They'll return the favor, too—via nesting nearby and serenading you daily. Our staff pick from Wagner is an all-purpose birdseed blend. It's the best choice in our collection. 

If you're hoping to entice larger birds to drop by for a meal, then choosing a birdseed blend with added fruit and shelled nuts should do the trick. Cedar waxwings, woodpeckers, and blackbirds will flock to Lyric's Fruit & Nut bird food. It's chock-full of delicious, high-fat nuts and dried apple, cranberry, and currants. For itty-bitty birds like sparrows, titmice, and chickadees, then I'd recommend Kaytee wild bird black oil sunflower food. The hulls of black oil sunflower seeds are thinner, and thus, easier for small beaks to tear through.

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