Corn is one of the world’s most important agricultural plants. It’s loved by both people and wildlife. Corn is readily available and inexpensive. When used appropriately, it is an outstanding addition to a backyard feeding station.
It’s surprising how little most people know about its history. Corn is a human created plant that does not exist in the wild. It has no ability to reproduce on its own, and without people planting and tending it, corn would become extinct.
Wheat, oats, rye, millet, rice and barley originated in the Old World. In contrast corn is New World. Domesticated from a wild ancestor in Central or South America thousands of years ago, corn cultivation gradually spread north and east as Native Americans traded seeds. The Spanish conquistadors named it “maíz” from the Taino Caribbean culture whose people called it “mahiz.” By the time of Columbus, corn was an important human food throughout what became the United States. Early European explorers brought seeds back to Europe and it was soon grown around the world. Today China is a major corn grower but the production epicenter is the American Corn Belt. Billions of bushels are grown in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, but cornfields can be found in nearly all states.
Geneticists have developed dozens of corn varieties. Best known may be the delicious sweet corn enjoyed at summer picnics or as popcorn at the movies. It is a major ingredient in livestock feed, and most corn is indirectly eaten as beef, eggs, poultry, pork, and even domestic catfish. Corn derived ethanol powers vehicles and it is used to produce syrup to sweeten beverages and has hundreds of industrial applications.
Corn is an outstanding wildlife food. Gardener’s know! Keeping deer, birds, and raccoons out of a patch of sweet corn is a major challenge.
Corn is readily available for wildlife feeding in grocery, farm and bird feeding specialty stores. It’s usually less expensive at farm stores and can be purchased either as whole (sometimes called shell), dried on the cob or cracked. The shell corn name comes from the Native American practice of using a clam shell to scrape hard kernels off the cob. Shell corn is intact kernels too large for most songbirds to swallow but eagerly eaten by deer, wild turkeys, blue jays, squirrels, pheasants and many other species. Cracked corn has been run through a machine that breaks the kernel into pieces small enough to be eaten by tiny birds as well as all those that can eat the full sized grain.
Corn is not the best choice for the most desired feeder birds. Chickadees, finches, cardinals and many others prefer sunflower seed. Corn’s advantages are its low cost and attractiveness to English sparrows, pigeons, starlings and other less desirable species. These birds prefer to eat on the ground. At Winding Pathways we sprinkle cracked corn on the lawn a distance from the sunflower stocked feeders. It helps lure less desirable birds away from the more expensive seeds. Almost daily a flock of wild turkeys visits the yard and devour every scrap of corn.
Squirrels and deer also love corn and readily gobble it down. It’s sometimes possible to buy dried corn still on the cob and many people enjoy watching mammals chew the kernels cobs.
