by Georgann Schmalz, Fernbank   Bird watching is rivaling gardening as America’s favorite pastime. In fact we are spending over $20 billion every year “birding” and feeding our feathered friends. What to feed birds and how we do it has become somewhat of a hobby by itself. Everyone has an opinion about what seed to feed birds and which feeder to put it in. Just listern to all those opinions and words of advice and then do what’s the most fun for you. Common misconception: The easiest method of feeding backyard birds is to simply throw human food, like bread, muffins, fruit and other leftovers onto the ground. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Never feed birds that stuff. It not only fills them up with worthless calories, but also any type of food on the ground (including birdseed) will rot and cause birds more harm than good. Get yourself a decent feeder and fill it with birdseed. The best seed that attracts the most birds is black-oil sunflower. In fact, that’s all you really need. Nearly every backyard bird eats it, and it’s becoming more popular and easier to buy. What about niger (thistle) seed? Believe it or not, when given a choice, finicky eaters like American goldfinches, pine siskins, and house finches will usually choose black-oil sunflower over niger. Try an experiment in your own backyard and see what happens. After all, that’s half the fun of birdfeeding. If you want to try something different and a little more complicated, throw in some red milo and white millet. Although they can be bought separately, these two seeds are usually sold as a mixture. Sometimes they may have other seeds mixed in like corn, hemp, rye, oats, safflower, white milo and rape. There’s nothing wrong with these mixtures, but their fancy names and claims are more appealing to us than to the birds. Of course, your squirrels will love it. However, most of us like to keep bird feeding simple. Remember, all you really need is black-oil sunflower, with a little white millet and red milo thrown in. What about a feeder? Nearly any above-ground flat surface such as a picnic table, your deck or one of a variety of platform feeders will work fine. Birds such as northern cardinals, dark-eyed juncos, mourning doves, northern mockingbirds, sparrows, brown thrashers and rufous- sided towhees prefer these flat stationary platforms. Most importantly, they also like white millet and red milo. So make sure you put those two seeds on your platform feeder. There’s a wonderful variety of hanging feeders, too. Some have perches or small ledges, others have small holes. Some are round, some are tubular. While a few have screening over them to thwart squirrels (sure!), others use baffles. While you may not care which hanging feeder you use, your birds certainly do. Blue jays, cardinals and house finches like a perch or small ledge to sit on while eating. Carolina chickadees, nuthatches, tufted titmice and woodpeckers don’t sit and eat, they’re on the run all the time. Grab a seed and go. They can use feeders with only a hole and not compete with the other guys. Use both styles; a feeder with perches and one without. Whatever hanging feeder you choose, use only black-oil sunflower in it. Don’t mix in millet and milo. Hanging feeder eaters will simply pick millet and milo out and spit it on the ground. They go for sunflower. The general rule is: Sunflower in your favorite hanging feeders and mixed seeds on the platforms. Simple!