Common Ground Doves are among many Southwest species that are attracted to millet seeds. White millet seeds are about the size of a pin head.

Providing white millet straight or in a mix is an easy way to increase the diversity of birds at your feeding station, particularly ground feeding birds. Adding white millet to your feeding station can attract species that might not otherwise appear at your feeder, such as juncos, towhees and native sparrows including White-throated Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows. Doves and quail also prefer the tiny white millet seeds, and who knows what new birds may be attracted.

White millet, also known as white proso millet, can be offered straight or in a seed mix. It can be scattered on the ground or provided on a tray feeder. I buy white millet in 50 pound bags that I fill in a tube feeder. During winter, Chipping Sparrows eat the millet from the feeder and spill seeds on the ground where Mourning Doves and towhees feast. During spring and summer I’m lucky enough to attract Blue Grosbeaks and Indigo Buntings to the millet tube feeder in my Carolina yard.

If you prefer to provide this ground-feeding bird magnet as part of a seed mix, be sure to check the ingredients list to make sure you are buying white millet and not red millet or milo. Preference studies show that birds prefer white over red millet, and very few species eat milo.

One caution: blackbirds, particularly Brown-headed Cowbirds, are also attracted to millet. Cowbirds reduce the nesting success of songbirds in your area by laying their eggs in the nests of other species. The young cowbirds out-compete their foster siblings for food, or forcibly eject them from the nest.

Although Brown-headed Cowbirds are native birds, their range has expanded dramatically in response to human alterations to the landscape. Cowbird parasitism is contributing to the declines of some species of songbirds that have not adapted to their parasitism. If cowbirds appear at your feeders, it’s best to stop offering millet for a few days. After the cowbirds move on you can resume feeding millet.

Give white millet a try this winter and see what birds appear!

Article by Peter Stangel