I’m sure there’s people with better advice. What I’ve found is that cardinals want to eat standing on something, so I platform feed for them. They really like the tiny white safflower seeds.
Blue jays love corn on the cob and black sunflower seeds.
Since I’ve been platform feeding, I’m not seeing the mockingbird. I still get titmice and chickadees on the platform. They seem to go for anything. The juncos rarely come onto the platform, so I always throw seed onto the ground near the table where it won’t get snow covered too badly.
I’m being very lazy in feeding. I never go out the door to fill a feeder anymore. I just open the library window and pour seed onto the platform just barely under the window bottom. I’ve put all my birdbaths, heated, onto pedestals so I can refill them from a window as well.
I’m extensively using whole peanuts to keep the squirrels fat.
Advice, anyone? I’m in Massachusetts, on the RI border.
Whole peanuts for the jays also. They will love you. Buy the 5 lb bags of unsalted at Costco or BJ’s.
A nyjer seed feeder will bring the finches.
Suet for the woodpeckers and nuthatches.
A regular feeder with wild bird mix will bring the others.
Laziness is not allowed.
Enjoy.
I just throw the feed around. . .maybe I am feeding the mice. :) I have had the colorful birds before. . .maybe someone else down the road has a better menu! I have an array of seeds to choose from. I even call out “here birdie birdies, . . . . .. “. They seem to know my voice. I had some colorful little yellow birds that liked the feed earlier in the year. . .I think finches? They probably flew south. And at least 7 hummingbirds this summer. Well, I’m not giving up on the sparrows! Thanks for the advice.