Feeder guide by food

Black Oil Sunflower Feeder

A black oil sunflower feeder is the one to start with: black-oil sunflower is the preferred food item for a wide variety of birds and among the favorite feeder foods of cardinals, chickadees, finches and sparrows ¹.

Everything below about feeder design, foods, placement and cleaning is drawn from Project FeederWatch ¹² and All About Birds ³.

Black-capped chickadee taking a seed from a black oil sunflower feeder — Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Which black oil sunflower feeder to choose

All of them. In a tube with short perches it serves finches and chickadees while excluding grackles and jays; in a large hopper it feeds most species including doves and grackles; on a tray it attracts most species and, near the ground, juncos, doves and sparrows ¹. Tubes keep it driest ¹; hoppers hold the most.

The birds that come for it

Northern Cardinals eat many kinds of birdseed, particularly black oil sunflower seed ⁴. House Finches take black oil sunflower over the larger striped sunflower, and a feeder full of it may bring flocks of 50 or more ⁵. Black-capped Chickadees take mostly sunflower seeds, peanuts and suet at feeders ⁶, Tufted Titmice prefer sunflower seeds above all ⁷, and American Goldfinches are most attracted to sunflower and nyjer ⁸. Blue Jays prefer peanuts, sunflower seeds and suet on a tray or hopper ⁹.

Hulls, chips and mess

Whole black-oil seed leaves a carpet of hulls; sunflower chips (shelled pieces) avoid it and suit balconies and window feeders, but spoil faster when damp, so offer less at a time and clean feeders more often in wet weather ¹. Fallen whole seed is not wasted — Song Sparrows, Fox Sparrows and towhees readily eat it from the ground ¹.

Placement, squirrels and windows

Place feeders close to natural cover such as trees or shrubs, which offer birds refuge from predators, but not so close to strong branches that squirrels can jump across — a distance of about 10 feet is the usual guidance ¹. Windows are the other hazard: collisions kill perhaps a billion or more birds a year in North America, and older rules about safe feeder-to-window distances are no longer thought valid — if a window is near a feeder, treat the glass with markings spaced no more than 2 inches apart, external screens or cords, rather than worrying about the distance ³.

Squirrel baffles — barriers placed between squirrels and feeders — are usually the best defense. Squirrels can jump to feeders placed less than ten feet from a tree or building, so a pole-mounted feeder in the open with a baffle below it, or a tilting baffle at least 18 inches in diameter above a hanging feeder, is the arrangement that works ¹.

Keeping the feeder clean and the birds healthy

Clean seed and suet feeders regularly — every week or two, and more often during heavy use or wet weather — by scrubbing off debris and washing the parts thoroughly with warm water and dish soap ¹. Hummingbird feeders need cleaning far more often, every couple of days and ideally every time they are refilled; discard the solution and clean immediately at any sign of cloudy water or black mold ¹.

If a sick bird appears — House Finch eye disease shows as red, swollen, runny or crusty eyes, and avian pox as wart-like growths around the eye, bill, legs and feet — remove the feeders the bird is using for a couple of weeks and clean the feeders and the area thoroughly, so disease is not spread at the feeder ². Salmonellosis, caused by Salmonella bacteria, is a common cause of mortality in feeder birds and spreads the same way ².

Recommended feeder types

Platform Feeder →Hopper Feeder →Tube Feeder →Window Feeder →

More feeder guides

Platform Feeder →Hopper Feeder →Tube Feeder →Suet Feeder →Hummingbird Feeder →Window Feeder →Tube vs hopper feeder →Suet vs seed feeder →Squirrel proof bird feeder →No birds at the feeder? →

Frequently asked questions

What birds eat black oil sunflower seeds?

Cardinals, chickadees, finches and sparrows above all, plus titmice, jays, nuthatches, grosbeaks and doves ¹⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹.

Black oil vs striped sunflower — which is better in a black oil sunflower feeder?

Black oil: thinner shells and more oil, and House Finches choose it over striped sunflower at feeders ⁵.

How often should I clean a bird feeder?

Every week or two for seed and suet feeders, more often in wet weather or heavy use; every couple of days for hummingbird feeders. Scrub, then wash with warm water and dish soap ¹.

How far should a feeder be from a window?

Distance rules are no longer considered valid; instead make any nearby window bird-safe with markings spaced no more than 2 inches apart, exterior screens, or hanging cords ³.