American Goldfinch
Hulled sunflower seeds (in the form of pieces or entire kernels), thistle seed, and oil-type sunflower seed were oil much more at tractive to the American goldfinch than black striped sunflower. Goldfinches found the white proso millet unattractive; however, comparisons with this standard identified the same three preferred materials.

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Blue Jay
Whole peanut kernels were the most attractive food, followed by black striped sunflower and gray striped sunflower seeds No other food approached these three in their attractiveness to this species. The fourth-ranked material, oil-type sunflower seed, was less than one fifth as appealing as the black striped sunflower. Data strongly suggests that peanut kernels should be omitted from feeders by people who do not wish to attract blue jays. (Peanut kernels are commonly found in commercial mixes.) Also, to discourage blue jays, the small oil-type sunflower seed should be substituted for the larger black striped sunflower and gray striped sunflower seeds. Blue jays found white proso millet so unattractive that better information on feeding preferences came from comparisons with black striped sunflower.

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Brown-headed Cowbird
The preferred food of the brown-headed cowbird was white proso millet. In comparison with the black striped sunflower, most at the foods offered were more attractive. In the comparisons with white proso millet, which are perhaps more meaningful for this species, red proso millet was about two-thirds as attractive as white proso millet and German millet about half as attractive, closely followed by canary seed. All other foods were much less preferred than these millets and canary seed.

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Cardinal
Oil-type sunflower seed was the most attractive food to cardinals; black striped sunflower ranked second. Gray striped sunflower seed was about two-thirds as attractive to cardinals as black striped sunflower and half as attractive as the oil-type seed. To a lesser degree, cardinals fed on a wide variety of other foods.

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Carolina Chickadee
Carolina chickadees highly preferred oil-type sunflower seed to other foods. Oil-type sunflower seeds were 3.5 times more attractive than black striped sunflower seeds. Other foods that were at least one-fifth as attractive as black striped sunflower seed were hulled sunflower pieces and gray striped sunflower. The large attractiveness ratio of sunflower kernels is based on small samples. Peanut kernels attracted this species in the spring, and casual observations support the attractiveness of this material. Chickadees were uninterested in white proso millet and other small seeds in our experiments.

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Dark-eyed Junco
Dark-eyed junco clearly preferred red proso millet and white proso millet, followed by canary seed and fine cracked corn. In the sunflower seed comparisons juncos showed a strong preference for oil-type sunflower over black striped sunflower and gray striped sunflower seeds. None of the sunflowers, however, was nearly as attractive as the small seeds.

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Common Grackle
Relatively limited observations on common grackles suggested that hulled sunflower seeds and cracked corn were the most attractive foods for this species.

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Evening Grosbeak
The most attractive food for the evening grosbeak was oil-type sunflower seed to which 48% more visits were made than to black striped sunflower. Gray striped sunflower was about as attractive as black striped sunflower. All other foods ranked much lower than the three sunflower types in their appeal. Small seeds, such as various millets, canary seed, wheat, and milo, were rarely, if ever, eaten.

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House Finch
In tests of substantial sample size, oil-type sunflower was the food most attractive to house finches, receiving more than twice as many visits as black striped sunflower. Hulled sunflowers (kernels or pieces) also ranked high. Gray striped sunflower, red proso millet, and thistle were eaten only 20-30% as often as black striped sunflower.

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House Sparrow
House sparrows preferred white proso millet to a variety of other foods that were also readily eaten. Both white proso millet and black striped sunflower year-round comparisons showed essentially the same order of attractiveness. In summer tests, however, German millet attracted more house sparrows than red proso millet. House sparrows ate almost everything except flax and rape seed. In general, small seeds were preferred to sunflower seeds; the millets ranged from 2.7 to 4.8 times more attractive than black striped sunflower.

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Mourning Dove
Mourning doves found the small black oil-type sunflower seeds the most attractive food offered. This finding is especially significant because other types of sunflowers tended to be unattractive; black striped sunflower received less than one-fourth as many visits as did oil-type sunflower. The second most attractive food was white proso millet, closely followed by red proso millet. Both black striped sunflower and white proso millet comparisons reflected the general superiority of the oil-type sunflower seed and the white proso millet in attracting mourning doves. Other foods attractive to this species were thistle, wheat, milo, hulled sunflowers, buckwheat, canary seed, hulled oats, and fine cracked corn.

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Purple Finch
Oil-type sunflower seed was clearly the most attractive food to purple finches. These birds visited the oil-type seed 4 times more than the second-ranked black striped sunflower. The next preferred food, gray striped sunflower, was 64% as attractive as the black striped sunflower seed. Thistle, red proso, and white proso millet also received a significant number of visits.

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Red-bellied Woodpecker
The red-bellied woodpecker seldom visited the feeders. Those that did greatly preferred black striped sunflower (Table 1). Casual observations (in earlier years) suggested that red-bellied woodpeckers also eat cracked corn.

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Song Sparrow
The preferred food of the song sparrow was white proso millet. Red proso, which ranked second, was about half as attractive as the white proso millet. The oil-type sunflower seed also received significant use by this rather infrequent visitor that usually feeds on small seeds.

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Starling
Starlings took few foods, but showed a striking preference for peanut hearts and hulled oats.

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Tree Sparrow
Tree sparrows preferred red proso, white proso millet, and fine cracked corn to other foods. This species is one of the few that showed a slight preference for red proso millet over white proso millet. Canary seed also was attractive to tree sparrows.

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Tufted Titmouse
The tufted titmouse found white proso millet so unattractive that better information on feeding preferences came from comparisons with black striped sunflower. Peanut kernels were the most attractive food; black striped sunflower, gray striped, and oil-type sunflower seeds also attracted this species, in the order listed.

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White-crowned Sparrow
The white-crowned sparrow, an infrequent visitor to the feeding tables, preferred oil-type sunflower seeds and white proso millet followed by black striped sunflower and red proso millet. Other foods received few visits by this species.

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White-throated Sparrow
Among the materials tested extensively, oil-type sunflower, white proso millet, and black striped sunflower ranked highest for the white-throated sparrow; in some small samples, hulled sunflower kernels and pieces and peanut kernels ranked highest. Other foods receiving substantial use were red proso millet, canary seed, fine cracked corn, and gray striped sunflower.

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