Do Doves Eat Sunflower Seeds? (Know The Fact)

Seeds play an important part in the diet of doves. But there are various seeds available in the market, and it is not easy to find which one is suitable for doves. Also, Many people posted an inquiry on online platforms do doves eat sunflower seeds?

Yes, doves sunflower seeds without any hesitation. They enjoy sunflower seeds, and doves consume both types of sunflower seeds. Read the full post to know how much they are safe and how you can properly feed them.

Table of Contents:

Are Sunflower Seeds Safe For Doves?

Yes, sunflower seeds are 100% safe for doves. Sunflower seeds are at the top of the list when it comes to bird seeds. Sunflowers seeds are of two types depending on their growth phase.

do doves eat sunflower seeds

Black oil sunflower seeds and white striped sunflower seeds. These seeds are fine in both forms and have high-fat content with proteins and rich minerals, including vitamins.

What Do Doves Eat? (Favorite Foods & Feeding Tips

Doves eat them by cracking open them, and there is nothing harmful in eating sunflower seeds. Sunflower seeds’ shell thickness varies by their type. Doves like to eat both kinds of sunflower seeds.

Naturally, all birds, including doves, approximately eat bird seeds according to their body weight. Usually, they eat ½ or ¼ birds’ seeds in a day.

Doves learn this eating pattern from their habitats and consume 20-25% of the seeds in doves’ food. It is very important because bird seeds like black oil sunflower seeds have almost 30% fat content. Therefore, if doves consume a large number of sunflower seeds, this will result in different problems.

First, doves will feel full stomach for a long time which may cause them to lack essential nutrients which are part of other feeds. Second, high-fat content can disturb their metabolism and may cause obesity and lack of energy.

Do Doves Eat Sunflower Seeds?

Yes, all doves are sunflower seed eaters. They eat different seeds, and sunflower seeds are one of their favorites. Sunflower seeds provide doves with the necessary fatty acids, proteins, vitamins, and minerals.

Doves enjoy both black-oil sunflower seeds and white-striped seeds. Black oil seeds have a thinner shell which doves find easier to crack open and eat. Black oil sunflower seeds have a bit higher fat content than white-striped seeds.

White striped seeds have a thicker shell, but these are relatively bigger, providing the overall fuller feed. Doves eat them if they found hulled sunflower seeds.

But they aren’t any sunflower seeds, and these are the kernel of seeds out of the shell. Doves don’t need to crack it, and they just enjoy eating them and singing out of joy.

What Kind Of Sunflower Seeds Do Doves Eat?

Doves eat all kinds of sunflower seeds. All birds love both types of seeds. Though some have preferences over others, mourning doves like black oil seeds more than white-striped seeds. As mentioned above, there are two types of sunflower seeds which are discussed below.

White Striped Sunflower seeds

These are very common seeds. White or gray-striped seeds are the same seeds that humans can also eat. For example, you may have eaten roasted white-striped seeds.

These seeds are bigger than black oil seeds, and white-striped seeds have less fat than black-seed sunflower seeds. These seeds are also enriched with vitamins, proteins, and minerals.

Black Oil Sunflower Seeds

Black oil sunflower seeds have a very thin shell, and these are relatively smaller than white-striped sunflower seeds.

As the black oil sunflower seed’s name suggests, it has a high-fat content, up to 30%, with necessary vitamins, proteins, and minerals.

How To Feed Sunflower Seeds To Doves?

If you have tried to attract the doves, but nothing worked, why? Because you might not be familiar with the doves and don’t know serving feed to doves.

One of the major attractions for doves is sunflower seeds. But you should know how to feed sunflower seeds to doves.

You may think that what’s the deal here with serving some simple seeds to these doves? When you are serving seeds to doves to attract them, there come the bullying birds.

Sunflower seeds are said to be the favorite seeds of almost all birds. Some big birds like blackbirds, European starlings, and grackles also want to eat the treat. But they may not like to share it with doves, so what can you do?

Instead of a tray feeder, here is a simple solution, always use a feeder with small chambers, which will only allow small birds like doves to enter and enjoy sunflower seeds.

Now here comes the question of how you should fill the feeder. First, scatter sunflower seeds in the feeder so that doves can pick and eat them easily.

Then, for young doves, who can’t open the shell, add some crushed sunflower seeds to the feeder.

It is highly recommended to add crushed seeds in every serving. Because sometimes parents dove bring their young ones to the feeder once they know it’s safe from bully birds and hunters. This will be good for young doves from choking, and they also can eat comfortably.

Always use a minimal amount, ample enough for a single day. It’s a great idea to serve seed kernels. So that the hungry birds don’t have to go through the struggle of cracking them.

Never forget to check for bad or rotten seeds. But these seeds can repel birds from your feeder. Also, ensure to keep fresh water along with the seeds.

Once you set up an appropriate bird feeder with the proper feed, you will enjoy different birds sinning in your gardens, and this will be a relaxing thing for every bird watcher and feeder.

Do Mourning Doves Eat Sunflower Seeds?

Mourning doves are beautiful singing doves. These birds are commonly seen in backyards and gardens.

These doves are primarily seed-eaters, and they don’t eat insects. Instead, mourning birds mostly eat weed seeds like sunflower seeds and corn seeds.

What birds eat sunflower seeds?

Mourning doves are used to find and eat sunflower seeds scattered on the ground as these are evolved for ground feeding.

So, if you want to attract a pair of beautiful mourning doves, install a platform feeder where they can stimulate ground foraging.

Mourning birds love to eat both black oil and white-striped sunflower seeds. But mourning birds usually prefer black oil sunflower seeds.

Mourning doves are famous for their singing. Unfortunately, these birds are still being hunted in some areas for different games.

Do Doves Eat Black Oil Sunflower Seeds?

Yes, all doves eat black–oil sunflower seeds. These seeds are most popular among backyard birds and other species like squirrels. Black oil seeds have great nutritional value.

These seeds have 30% fat, 25%fiber, and 15% protein with essential vitamins and minerals. Black oil sunflower seeds have a thin shell, so you can set them out in a feeder without peeling them. However, doves can easily crack the shell and eat the seed kernel.

Final Words

Bird seeds are the common foods that all birds like to eat. Doves love to eat sunflower seeds, and If you are feeding doves at home or have a bird feeder in your backyard, you might have to take care of the number of seeds per day.

Always serve a small number of mixed sunflower seeds. You can also serve crushed or semi-crack seeds.

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