Feeding birds is a fun activity for kids that can be used in conjunction with learning how to use bird identification books.
Learning how to use field guides is an important step towards learning about your natural surroundings. There are field guides for stones, shells, fish, insects, butterflies, flowers, herbs, and just about everything else that you can imagine.
Most children enjoy feeding birds. They like to toss bread to the ducks and geese when they visit a pond. They get excited when they see a bird land in the yard and wonder what type of bird it is.
Take advantage of this opportunity to teach children what to feed certain birds and how to identify the visiting birds in a field guide.
What do birds eat?
Birds eat many things, from insects to berries, to seeds and sugar water. Here is a quick list of what some North American birds will eat from a feeder.
Bluebirds: dried fruit, peanut butter, and suet.
Blue Jay: bread, corn, nutmeats, peanut butter, suet, squash seeds, sunflower.
Buntings: cracked corn, crumbs, mixed grains, nutmeats.
Cardinal: cracked corn, dried fruit, nutmeats, safflower, squash and sunflower seeds.
Common Bobwhite: cracked corn, mixed grains, sunflower.
Finches: bread crumbs, corn, millet, sunflower
Goldfinches: bread crumbs, millet, squash seeds, sunflower, thistle.
Grosbeaks: safflower, suet, sunflower.
Juncos: pumpkin and squash seeds, sunflower, wild birdseed mix.
Nuthatches: bread crumbs, cracked nuts, peanut butter, squash seeds, suet, sunflower.
Robin: bread, cord, dried fruit, nutmeats, peanut butter, suet.
Sparrows: bread, cracked corn, dried fruit, nutmeats, wild birdseed mix.
Wood Warblers: nutmeats, peanut butter, suet.
Wrens: bread, nutmeats, peanut butter, suet.
