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Native Nurseries has been North Florida’s Wild Bird Watchers’ General Store
for over thirty years. Jody and I have learned a lot, both before and after
we started our business, about the best ways to attract birds to our yard.
Many of our employees are bird watchers and they are all trained
to help you choose the best wild bird seed and feeder for your situation,
so come on in and let us help you.
Donna Legare, Co-owner of Native Nurseries
Supreme Blend - No Waste Bird Seed
We use this in our tube feeder that sits above a squirrel-proofing tray/baffle.
This mixture of black oil sunflower, hulled sunflower chips and safflower
brings in the usual chickadees, titmice and cardinals, but also attracts birds
that can't open a sunflower shell like Carolina Wrens.
Peanut Splits - First thing to go!
Jody and I ration these, placing one or two handfuls each morning on
the giant seed tray/squirrel baffle. Almost immediately, Brown Thrashers,
Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Tufted Titmice, Blue Jays and others fly in and out
devouring the peanuts. Do not put out large quantities of peanut splits
because they will spoil if they get wet.
Black Oil Sunflower Seed
If you offer only one seed, make it black oil sunflower.
This seed is nutritious and has a high oil content.
Native Nurseries Custom Mix
However, if you feed only sunflower seed, you will miss out
on some interesting migrants, especially Chipping Sparrows and
White-throated Sparrows. They love medium cracked corn
and white proso millet, preferring to feed on a platform type feeder.
Jody and I feed Native Nurseries Custom Mix on a large flat rock in our yard.
This mix contains black oil sunflower, white proso millet
and medium cracked corn.
Morning Dove and Rufous-sided Towhees also prefer millet and corn.
Every so often you may also be blessed with the company
of an Indigo Bunting feeding on white millet.
No Mess Mix and Sunflower Chips
If you are feeding on a balcony or terrace
and do not want sunflower shells and seed to drop below the feeder,
feed sunflower chips or No Mess Mix (a mixture of sunflower chips, nuts and fruit). These should be fed in small amounts and do not let them get wet
since the chips have no protective hull and the nuts and fruit will spoil.
If squirrels are a problem, use a squirrel-proof feeder.
Native Nurseries Homemade Suet Cakes
There are many fancy suet cakes on the market,
but none of them are as well suited or as preferred
as the ones made fresh (sometimes almost daily) here at Native Nurseries.
We use the recipe of the late Betty Komarek of Birdsong Nature Center -
simply melted beef fat combined with lots of course cornmeal.
We buy our cornmeal from a local source, Bradley's Country Store.
This is a nutritious blend and highly attractive to a wide variety of birds -
orioles, warblers, wrens, woodpeckers and many others.
Safflower
If you have a feeder that cannot be squirrel-proofed, try feeding safflower seed.
Squirrels, as well as grackles and blue jays, do not like it.
Live Mealworms
Many, many birds (including bluebirds) will visit your feeder for live mealworms.
Click here for a more complete list of which Tallahassee birds eat which seed.
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