With November here, Iowans are getting their yards ready for winter and part of the process is hanging bird feeders.
Patrice Petersen-Keys, a naturalist with the Polk County Conservation Board, says bird experts have done long studies and determined black oil sunflower seeds are the finest for feeding feathered friends.
She says the largest variety of birds eat that sort of seed — not the striped sunflower seed, which has a higher fat content. If you put out a larger variety of seeds, you’ll get a wider array of birds.
Petersen-Keys says don’t skimp. Those cheap bags of bird seed are filled with fillers — stuff like cracked corn, oats and millet. She says those fillers are -not- liked by most birds and they’ll just throw it on the ground and waste it. Petersen-Keys says Iowans don’t have to spend a bundle to get a decent bird feeder, though she warns, some of us do have to watch out for those other back-yard scavengers.
Good feeders can be had for less than 20-dollars but if you don’t want to feed squirrels or crows, you might have to spend a little more money on a better feeder to keep those other critters away. For more information, surf to the website of the National Bird Feeding Society at “www.birdfeeding.org”.