Wild birds face a tougher time getting the food they need once the weather gets colder. In fact, some birds start “stashing” seeds before the winter comes.

You can help your feathered friends get prepared by offering them their favorite food packed with the nutrients they need.  While there are many varieties of sunflower seeds, Black Oil Sunflowers are the most nutritious. They are high in fiber and contain vitamin E, biotin, choline, thiamin, and zinc.  Most back yard birds love Black Oil Sunflower and actively seek it out when foraging at the feeder.

Black Oil Sunflower is a favorite because the seeds have a high shell-to-meat ratio with a soft, thin shell that’s easy to crack. Even small birds can easily eat them. They also contain a very high quality protein combined with a high fat content to provide a much needed instant energy source during the colder months. Chickadees and nuthatches are notorious for stashing away Black Oil Sunflower seeds so they can eat them later. In fact, during the winter, chickadees even grow additional brain cells so they can remember all their winter hiding places.

It’s good to be careful about which brand of Black Oil Sunflower you buy. Most of the highest quality seeds go into the production of sunflower oil for human consumption. This means the left over, low quality seeds – the ones with very little meat and oil – go into most of the wild bird seed products you see on the market. Usually, birds end up kicking these types of low quality seeds right out of the feeder.

Bucking the wild bird feeding industry trend, Cole’s sells only the highest-grade Black Oil Sunflower seed on the market. It is over 99% pure and cleaned more than four times to ensure you get more seed and fewer sticks. Chocked full of oil and loaded with vital nutrients, Cole’s Oil Sunflower is the best way to guarantee your feathered friends are getting the good quality they deserve when they need it the most. Click below to find out more.

Cats are one of the most dangerous predators for birds. House cats that roam outside will naturally hunt birds even if they aren’t hungry at all. In fact, millions of birds are killed by cats each year. It’s healthier for the birds and the cats to keep the cat inside. In fact, according to the American Humane Society, cats that roam have a life expectancy of three years versus cats that remain inside usually live to about 15 years.

If you have neighbors who let their cats roam, you may want to consider having your feeders near trees so that birds can make a quick escape. You might also consider motion-activated sprinklers at entrance points, cat-proof fencing, and perhaps a thorny plant under your feeder. If you have cats and you do let them outside with the bird feeders, you can purchase collars with bells and that way at least the birds have a warning.

Those of us who love to attract and feed birds are always looking for ways to make our yards a positive environment for our feathered friends. Cole’s would like to provide you with a few tips for creating a bird-friendly yard. First, let’s talk about chemicals in your yard. Pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides can be damaging, even deadly to birds. According to Audubon.org, some seven million birds die each year from exposure to lawn pesticides. With sales of these products only increasing, what can you do to keep your lawn looking good without using toxic chemicals? First of all, experts say – know your enemies. If you don’t have a pest problem, you may not want to use preventive pesticides. Keep in mind, attracting certain natural “allies” such as dragonflies and wasps as well as bats can help to keep certain pests away. Also consider plants that are natural to your area because they will have more natural resistance to pests. When it comes using pesticides in your yard, before picking up a chemical spray, consider the benefits of pulling up the weeds yourself. It may require a little elbow grease, but you may be able to keep your yard free from harsh chemicals and much healthier for the birds. If you do have a need for using pesticides, you may want to research new, less toxic alternatives.

Will feeding birds in the fall keep them from migrating?

A common myth is that you should stop feeding birds in the fall because it will tempt the birds to stay put instead of migrating south.  The fact is, birds base their decision to migrate mostly on the shortening length of each day as fall and winter approach. Not even an abundance of food at your feeders will make a bird go against their migrating instinct. Making sure your feeders are full during the fall may even help keep those far traveling birds energized during their long journey – plus you get to see some cool bird species as they’re passing through!

Bird feeder battles: Winning the war against squirrels

For bird lovers, the sight of a bushy tail hanging off the side of a feeder means just one thing: war.

Sure, squirrels have to eat, too, and no one wants to harm the persistent critters. But that doesn’t mean you have to put up with squirrels scarfing down the seed you put out for the birds, damaging your feeders and bumping up your blood pressure. It’s possible to discourage squirrels—and even outsmart them—with the right seed mix and some nature-friendly squirrel-control tactics.

Plant the seed

Birds, like people, are selective—even picky—when it comes to food. Seed is the best option to attract the most birds to your feeder. Unfortunately, squirrels also love seed. And while birds will sort through mixed seed to find what they like—and ditch the undesirable filler, like red milo, on the ground below the feeder—squirrels are not so picky. They’ll eat the cast-offs on the ground and then move on to the good stuff in the feeder, and devour that, too.

To entice birds, avoid brands that wash or coat seeds with chemicals and mineral oil. Look for brands manufactured by companies that focus on bird feed, like Cole’s, rather than treat it as a sideline business. Some feed mixes are full of cheap filler seeds, crop leftovers and the lowest quality oil sunflower. Cole’s uses only high quality seeds, and each blend is designed to attract specific groups of birds.

Taste aversion – serving seed that birds find delicious, but squirrels consider down right distasteful – is an effective way to keep squirrels out of bird feeders. Check out a seed blend that uses hot spicy flavor to repel squirrels. Cole’s offers “hot” products that are designed to appeal to birds while dissuading squirrels. Its Hot Meats blend infuses top-quality sunflower meats with a Habanero chili pepper and Safflower oil that birds find delectable, but squirrels simply detest. Or, you can opt to add Flaming Squirrel Seed Sauce to any Cole’s blend. It’s a safe, effective and human way to feed birds and thwart squirrels. You can learn more at www.coleswildbird.com.

Squirrel-proof your bird feeders

Another option is to try to make your feed less accessible to squirrels—although that can be hard to do since squirrels are smart problem-solvers. You may find the best results from a combination of methods, including:

* Locate feeders far from trees, wires, porches or other launching points to make it more difficult for squirrels to reach the feeder. Remember, squirrels can jump distances of 10 feet or longer. Mounting feeders on a smooth metal pole at least 6 feet high with no surrounding branches or bushes within 12 feet may also work.

* Place a wire cage around the feeder with openings just large enough to admit birds but too small for squirrels to fit through. This can also help keep larger birds, such as starlings or pigeons, from accessing the feeder.

* Try specially designed feeders that have doors which close when triggered by a squirrel’s weight on the feeder. The doors keep squirrels from reaching the seed. And if you’ve had plastic feeders gnawed to destruction by squirrels, try switching to metal which they’ll be less likely to chew through.

If you can’t beat ‘em …

Sometimes you just can’t win the war and the squirrels refuse to leave. Or maybe you have a soft spot for those fluffy-tailed felons. When you can’t convince squirrels to vacate your yard, another option is to serve them something they’ll find even more appealing than bird seed. If you can lure them away from your feed, squirrels can be an amusing addition to your backyard landscape.

Squirrels love whole, dried corn-on-the-cob and loose dried corn. Cole’s offers Critter Munchies, a blend of whole yellow corn, striped sunflower, peanuts in the shell, black oil sunflower and raw peanuts. Serve on an open platform-style feeder. Or place an ear of dried corn on a stick. A stake or pinecone can be coated with peanut butter.

Set up your squirrel feeding station away from bird feeders and make it as easy as possible for the squirrels to access their feeder filled with temptations like nuts, corn and berries.

If you can make peace with the squirrels, these intelligent characters and their antics can be a welcome sight in your backyard.

Fiction: White Millet is a cheap filler seed.

Fact: White Proso Millet is the number one choice of many ground-feeding birds like towhees, song sparrows, juncos, and buntings. The problem is that most commercial mixes contain more millet than anything else – a definite negative when put in a tubular or wooden feeder where perch feeding birds are looking for oil sunflower.  If all a sunflower-loving bird finds in a feeder is millet, it will tire of kicking out the millet and move on, leaving you with a feeder full of uneaten seed.
A good mix will contain just enough millet for the ground feeders to benefit from the perch feeders’ habit of kicking out the seeds they don’t like, but not so much that the perch feeders will become discouraged.  That way you attract a greater variety of wild birds both on and below the feeder. So, bottom line – a little millet is good, a lot of millet is bad.

Fiction: Wild birds need vitamin and mineral supplements added to their birdseed to help them survive

Fact: Most wild birds eat from a wide variety of food sources (insects, berries, seeds, etc.) which guarantees they get all the vitamins and minerals they need naturally. As long as your birdseed is fresh, high quality stuff like Cole’s, your feathered friends are sure to thrive.

Needless to say, real nutritional supplements are not harmful; however, the most common way for companies to add “vitamins” to their products is to simply coat it with mineral oil and add crushed rock.  Current regulations allow a manufacturer to list the nutritional components of mineral oil (iron, zinc) and crushed rock (Vitamin A, calcium carbonate) separately, which can make the birdseed ingredients look more impressive than they really are.  Adding mineral oil to birdseed also makes it look shiny and helps to hide dirt and dust, and of course the crushed rock adds weight to the final product.

Fiction:  Birdseed doesn’t go bad

Fact:  It is important to remember that all birdseed is perishable. Be sure and store any open product in a cool dry place away from direct sunlight to prevent the seed from drying out and little critters from finding it.

Cole’s is proud to feature Nitrogen Purged Barrier Packaging to ensure seed freshness and no bugs in every unopened bag. We use the same packaging technology employed by potato chip makers and fresh vegetable farmers to keep their products fresher longer. So you will never open a bag of Cole’s wild bird seed and find dried out seeds or pesky meal moths in it.

In the off chance your birdseed gets an Indian Meal Moth (a.k.a. pantry moth) or two after you open it, it is still okay to use. A few tiny insects will not decrease the attractiveness of the seed to the birds. After all, insects are a natural part of their regular diet.  If you find that these little creatures “bug” you, you can either put your seed in the freezer for 48 hours to kill them, or simply offer it up to your feathered friends in the backyard. They’ll thank you for the easy catch!