How do you know if they have any meat inside?

Some people have all the luck! LOL

Lot of great picture of our wild birds. Time to go out and feed that rabbit some millet before dark.

We will go through 400 pounds of sunflower seeds. 50 pounds of cracked corn 30 pounds of mixed seed and 20 suit blocks every year. Lost count on squirrels taken.

This cold speel i can't keep my feeders full. I have metal hog pans bolted to a 6' pole staggered from top down and it holds 50 pound of food.

Feed the birds/beasts year 'round. I go through several bags of sunflower seed, maybe 800-1000 lbs of shelled corn. I used to buy that cheap "Wild Bird Mix" for $3 a 10 lb bag, but it is about 75% millet/milo, and as stated, it mostly ends up on the ground. You will get a bunch of ground feeding birds in the spring/fall as they pass through--stuff like White Crowned and White Throated Sparrows, and Towhees. They rarely hit the hanging feeder, but will gather all sorts of stuff on the ground under it. I also put out a bunch of straight old bear fat. They birds love that stuff. So does everything else. Squirrels, 'coon, 'possum, deer (!), Ravens, Crows, and don't forget my neighbor ladies cat. I go through about 2 five gallon pails full per winter. I used to have all I needed when my taxidermy shop was in full swing, but since retiring I just go to a shop the next county over and get some. They save me a couple buckets full. We also toss road-kill deer out for the eagles and hawks. This year the road -kill has been slim pickens. My All Purpose Boy found a bunch of arrowed rough fish tossed out in the snow about a month ago....34 of them, mostly Bowfin. The eagles are happy,happy. SJA's photo of porch Mallards reminds me of our local Mallards that have trained us to feed them. The one hen will actually follow me around the yard if there isn't corn out for her. She got so she would come up on our porch too......and I mhave photos of her standing inside the front door eating corn off the livingroom carpet!

Simple pleasures for simple minds.

Very nice.Always enjoyed feeding birds.

Bring this to the top or it will be lost by tomorrow. lOL

Born; I feel hemp seed is a very undervalued 'bird seed'. It actually has a Great calorific value.

I've fed the birds all my life. Is it 'wrong' though that I now feed the Foxes too? I love 'em! Little vixen waits for me, every night. Rushes up to get her grub. Then, I leave the trail cam to show me what they ~ and the solitary old badger ~ get up to all night.

Checking that cam' footage is what makes me jump out of bed of a morning.

The mealworms are freeze dried. I can't imagine they skin 'em to get the meat and sell the shells.

Best post on the internet!

Getting there; the insects exoskeleton is used in the birds gizzards as grinding, the high sclerotin (protein) helps. Many of the pigments from the insects come through as the birds molt into new feathers. The pet dealer had those for too long as the larvae molted, pupated, and left, or you would have had some black beetles present.
I always have some " chicken grit " around the feeder to aid in that as well.

Around here it seems that black oil sf is the best for most winter birds. Cracked corn and suet fills in the gaps

To get serious,black oil sunflower is best around here,everything eats it except Bluebirds,orioles,and fly catchers. I feed the dried mealworms for the bluebirds,and grape jelly for Orioles,catbirds,and the red bellied woodpeckers really like it,too. Right now,because I'm too lazy in the cold weather to raise my feeder to 10',because the deer like sunflowers too,I'm feeding mealworm seed cakes and suet,so the deer can't eat through the cages. Deer and ducks get about 15 lbs. of corn a day.

Everything eats Black oil...Thats all I feed
Xcept Suet

mole what kind of birds are those? These black birds eat to much. I run them off but they are right back.

Feeding goes both ways!

This Cardinal usually appears during low light periods but when it was storming he is after the seeds in mid day. The Pileated Woodpecker sleeps hanging on the side of my Basswood tree to catch some sun and get out of the wind on those below zero days.