In order to attract blackbirds to your own garden or to help the birds search in winter, it is a good idea to put out blackbird food. The year-round resident birds will happily accept this and settle in the garden.
Blackbird food in natural habitat
The blackbird is one of the soft-feeding birds. This means that the popular suet balls that hang everywhere in the garden in winter are not visited by the blackbirds. In the wild they prefer:
- Insects
- worms
- Apples
- Berries
- Seeds
A naturally landscaped garden with many berry bushes, fruit trees and plants that provide seeds is the ideal place for the blackbirds, who will like to settle here.
Tip:
The blackbirds look for much of this natural food supply on the ground. It is therefore important for you to know that you also place the blackbird food offered on the ground and not in a bird feeder.
Right time
As soon as the temperatures drop and a blanket of snow spreads across the garden, it makes sense to feed the birds. But other times are also crucial for feeding blackbirds:
- during the breeding season
- between March and April
- Blackbirds don't have time to look for their own food
- Put food near the nest
- when young animals fledge stop feeding
When they leave the nest, the young birds should go looking for food themselves so that they learn to search for themselves and do not become dependent on people. The adult blackbirds now also have time to find food themselves.
Note:
You shouldn't offer bird food all year round, not just to blackbirds, but to all of our local birds. This means that all birds forget how to look for themselves, can no longer find food on their own and become dependent on you.
Berries
When searching for food, berries on bushes are the blackbird's preferred choice in summer. This means that different types of berries can also be offered in winter, which can be purchased frozen in the freezer section of the supermarket. And the dried berries, which are briefly soaked in water before being put out as food, are also a good choice:
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
- Blackberries
- currants
- Gooseberries
- Strawberries
- Elderberries
When it comes to dried berries, you should definitely make sure that they are unsulfured. Unsulphured raisins are therefore also ideal blackbird food, even if they are not berries.
Note:
Although they are not berries or fruits, tomatoes are still part of the blackbirds' rich diet.
Fruit
Fruit is ideal as food for the blackbird. Because the birds look for this themselves in the wild. Apples and pears in particular can be used to feed the blackbirds when they can no longer find food themselves:
- cut into small pieces
- spread on the floor
- ideally protected under bushes
- on lawns
- check regularly
- must not get moldy
- lay out fresh daily
- remove old residues
- Hang fruits in the trees in winter
- Grapes are also ideal fruit
Note:
Unfortunately, if you spread food on the ground in the garden, there is always the risk of attracting harmful rats. If you notice that there are more rats in your area due to the food you have put out, you should quickly stop feeding in this way.
Oat and wheat flakes
The soft food accepted by the blackbird also includes cereal flakes such as oats or wheat. However, these must be prepared in advance for the food on offer so that it is tolerable for the blackbirds:
- Soak in a little sunflower oil
- only lay out when all the oil has been completely absorbed by the grain
- Otherwise there is a risk of oily bird feathers
- The unsulfured raisins mentioned above can be mixed in
Seeds
In summer and autumn, blackbirds also prefer seeds, which they pick from various bushes and flowers. These seeds are also an ideal feed:
- Sunflower seeds ideally unpeeled
- put spent flowers in corner of garden
- other birds also use this as food
- Poppy
- Bran
- Rosehips
When buying sunflower seeds from the market, it is important to ensure that they are untreated seeds. Because as a snack for us humans, these are often offered already s alted in the supermarket.
Note:
Bran is a variety of seed and fruit shells. Therefore, this is also an ideal ingredient for blackbird food, as all seeds should also be offered with shells due to their naturalness.
This should be avoided
Blackbirds are wild animals. Therefore, the meals offered should not be s alted or seasoned. Pure products are ideal for this. You should also keep in mind that blackbirds are not omnivores and should also avoid the following when feeding:
- Bread
- swells in the birds' stomachs
- can cause big problems
- Leftovers
- Sweets
- Cake
Tip:
Cheap feed mixes for all birds are often available in stores. However, for the sake of the blackbirds, do not purchase inferior feed mixtures, as these contain indigestible fillers such as hard wheat grains, which the blackbirds cannot eat and can therefore have difficulties with digestion.
