You’ve just filled your feeders, and before you make it back to the house, a flock of starlings or a couple of ravenous squirrels descend and devour your seed in no time flat
If that sounds familiar, one simple solution might be safflower seeds.
Safflower seeds, which are extremely high in protein and fat, are slightly smaller than sunflower seeds.
The hard white shell protects the meat, and has a somewhat bitter flavor. That’s why fewer birds like the seed. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
In fact, some of the bothersome bully birds out there—grackles, starlings and blackbirds—actively avoid safflower seeds.
Field editor Ken Wellnitz of Davenport, Iowa, says, “I have had good luck using safflower in my yard.