Bird Menus - Suggested Substitute Foods

babyfeed
Science Diet’s dry dog and cat chows are an excellent base for temporary feeding of baby birds. Powdered and moistened with water to an applesauce consistency is the usable bird formula. Exact, a birdseed manufacturer, makes a powdered baby bird hand feeding formula. Be advised that none of these foods is as complete as the diet provided by the natural parents.

The substitution list below provides general information and is by no means a guarantee that the nutritional needs of the baby bird are met in full. Be sure to provide fresh water.

Bird

Natural Food

Substitute

Cuckoos

Tent caterpillars, worms, insects, lizards

Meal worms, beef heart rolled in bone meal, Science Diet Puree

Roadrunner

Snakes, sunflower seeds, pecans and lizards

Beef heart, mealworms, mice and chicks.

Jays and Crows

Insects, sunflower seeds, pecans, lizards

Science Diet, mealworms, nuts, seeds, fruit, and crickets.

Mockingbirds, Robins, Catbirds, bluebirds, Thrushes, Cedar Waxwings, Warblers, Thrashers, Starlings, Sparrows Blackbirds, meadow larks, Cowbirds,

Pokeberry, holly, sumac, grapes, cherries, chinaberries, pyracantha, cedar berries, insects, weed seeds.

Raisins, chopped fruit, Science diet, Mealworms, wild bird seeds

Cardinals, finches

Insects, sunflower seeds, weed seeds, fruit

Mealworms, sunflower seeds, wild birdseed, chopped fruit, Science Diet.

Shrikes

Insects, wasps, small birds, rodent and frogs

Beef heart rolled in eggshell, meal worms, grasshoppers, crickets, mice, Science Diet.

Hummingbirds

Nectar from flowers, tiny insects

Commercial hummingbird mix

Kingbirds, Nighthawks, Whippoorwills, Swifts, flycatchers, Swallows

Insects. Eat in flight and must be hand fed.

Beef heart rolled in eggshell, meal worms, crickets, insects, Science Diet.

Kingfishers

Fish, crabs, frogs, lizards, locust

Smelt, beef heart, lean beef

Woodpeckers, Flickers

Grubs, ants, beetles, some fruit and berries

Mealworms, chopped apples, beef heart rolled in egg shell, Science Diet

Chickadees, Titmice, Nuthatchers, Towhees

Pine seeds, sunflower seeds, insects, some fruit

Sunflower seeds, pine nuts, Science Diet, fruit mealworms.

Doves, Pigeons

Seed,

Pureed Science Diet, baby strained chicken add avian vitamins.