I’ve purchased five pounds of the new golden safflower. We’ll see if suburban birds find it as attractive as city birds do. I also bought five pounds of millet, a bird food I have ignored because of its appeal to sparrows. I don’t want House Sparrows at our feeders on a regular basis, another of my bird prejudices. But, we do get juncoes scrabbling for sunflower crumbs beneath the feeders attached to our patio door glass. Juncoes eat millet. Duh. So, I will see if they find my new scatterings appealing. I’m just sprinkling the millet on the deck boards, very close to the house where snow is less likely to bury it. The millet info came from a DVD produced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of its effort to improve birding opportunities on national wildlife refuges. This production goes into detail about bird feeders and bird food, including an endorsement for millet. There’s always something new to learn. That’s a junco in the photo, sitting on the railing of our deck.

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