3 Million Sunflower Seeds

Readers will recall that a year ago I set out to carefully measure the amount of bird food I put out through 2011.  And those data are in.

Sunflower Seed:  In 2011 the total consumption was 471 pounds (214 kilos) which is very nearly 12 sacks of the stuff I buy at my local farm supply store, in 40# sacks.  This works out, assuming 200 seeds to the half-ounce---and yes, I counted that!, to 3.01 million sunflower seeds.  The symmetry was wonderful, almost equal amounts January to June and for the last half of the year.  February and September were peak months, and four months required more than one sack each to fulfill. 

Safflower Seed: Last year I put out a total of 168 pounds (76 kilos) of safflower seed, or nearly 7 sacks at 25# each.  The consumption peaked in June, and in no month did we see less than five pounds' consumption.  This is a popular food choice for Northern Cardinals and Mourning Doves, not so much for Gray Squirrels.

Suet Cakes: The logbook tells me I put out 123 12-ounce suet cakes in 2011.  That's 92 pounds (42 kilos).  That consumption is highest in May, June, and July when young birds are most in "season."  That one quarter saw 55% of the annual consumption.

Suet Nuggets: I've been supplying hot pepper suet nuggets manufactured by the same people who produce our suet cakes, and these come in handy 28 ounce sacks.  In 2011, we used almost nine of these sacks in one platform feeder. Top months again were May and June when 43% of the year's total was consumed.

Peanut Butter:  This was put out in only 24 weeks of 2011 (I closed down from April through September) but in that time the peanut-loving birds (wrens, chickadees, titmice, woodpeckers) took almost eight pounds of the stuff, or a little over three 40 ounce jars.  The peak month there was February.

Other Stuff:  In total I supplied 14 pounds of other foods, including white millet, peanut pieces, and nyjer seed. 

Lessons? I confirmed my mental recollection that spring, not winter, is the big suet season, and showed that both sunflower and safflower seed are solid favorites regardless of the time of year.  And I quantified the annual distribution.  I figure that averaged out, each of my thirteen feeders used needed 2.6 ounces of material per day.  And that totals to 768 pounds overall.  That's pretty impressive!