Oil sunflower seeds
 A great overall seed to offer in the winter. It has a high calorie/ounce ratio
 due to its high fat and protein content and its relatively thin shell.
 Oil sunflower has twice the calories per pound than striped sunflower and its
 smaller shells make less mess when discarded by the birds.

 Safflower seeds
 A white seed, slightly smaller than black sunflower seed. Chickadees, titmice,
 chickadees, and downy woodpeckers eat it. The great thing about safflower
 seeds is that squirrels don't like them. Neither do grackles, blue jays, or
 starlings.

Nyger seeds
Nyger has replaced thistle as the most popular seeds to feed goldfinches. Goldfinches adore nyger. You may have dozens of goldfinches visiting your nyger feeder at once, which is quite a cheering sight on a winter day.
Niger is a black seed, so tiny and light you can blow away a handful with a gentle breath.

Cracked corn
Sparrows, blackbirds, jays, doves, quail, and squirrels are just a few of the creatures you can expect at your feeders if you feed cracked corn. Depending on where you live you may also get turkeys, deer, elk, moose, and caribou.
Fed in moderation, cracked corn will attract almost any feeder species. Some feeder operators only use this food to lure the squirrels away from the bird feeders. Squirrels love corn--cracked or otherwise--best of all. Whole corn that is still on the cob is not a good bird food because the kernels are too big and hard for most small birds to digest. Cracked corn is broken up into smaller, more manageable bits.

Suet
A great food to offer many of the birds that will visit backyards in the winter. Suet is a high energy, pure fat substance which is invaluable in winter when insects are harder to find and birds need many more calories to keep their bodies warm.
Suet can be fed in a variety of feeders ranging from a suet cage to a wood and cage feeder offering protection from the weather elements and designed to require the birds to hang upside down.

 Fruit
 Fruit is also an important dietary element for birds, but it can
 be hard to find in many areas in midwinter. Set out grapes,
 slices of citrus fruits, apple or banana slices, and even melon
 rinds, and watch your birds chow down. If you want to feed
 raisins, chop them up and soak them in warm water first to
 soften them up a bit.
 Offering fruit to tanagers and orioles is a traditional spring and
 summer feeding strategy, but many winter feeder birds will eat
 fruit, too.

 Peanuts
 Another great food to offer birds in the wintertime.
 Peanuts have high protein and fat levels and are often an
 ingredient  in suet products. Offering peanuts in a peanut
 feeder can provide a good source of protein for birds.

Homemade bird treats
You can come up with your own recipes for winter bird treats. Smear peanut butter on a tree trunk,
and poke some peanut bits into it. Melt suet, and pour it into an ice-cube tray to harden.
Before it solidifies, add peanut bits, raisins, apple bits, or other bird foods. Put the tray in your freezer to harden.
Once it does, you've got cubed bird treats--easy to make and easy to use!

One caution!
Don't buy bags of mixed birdseed. They contain a lot of filler, such as red millet. Most birds won't eat it. It gets kicked onto the ground, where stays until it rots. Mixed birdseed is not a bargain. Buy the seeds you know your birds want.

When starting up a feeding program, be patient. It may take as long as several weeks before the birds discover your feeders.
While you wait, be sure to keep the feeders filled. Eventually, the birds will come.