Nearly half of all American households set out a bird feeder. Most are stocked with sunflower seeds, and birds love them. The story of this seed is an interesting mix of nature, science, and culture.
Domestic strains of sunflowers were developed from a wild ancestor that’s common along roadsides and in vacant lots across much of North America. Blooming in midsummer, it is the Kansas state flower. Wild sunflower seeds have always been an important wildlife food that were also eagerly collected and eaten by Native Americans.
Wild sunflower seeds were brought to Europe hundreds of years ago. Ironically, Old World scientists developed cultivated varieties of this American plant, which became an important crop in the Soviet Union long before improved seeds were imported to the United States during the Cold War. Sunflower cultivation remains more important in Europe than North America, and Russians eat thousands of tons of them each year.
North and South Dakota and Kansas are major American producers of commercial seed that ends up in feeders all over the continent. An average yield is around 1400 pounds per acre.
Domestic sunflower seed comes in two general types. The smaller black seeds, called black oil, are processed into cooking oil or sold for feeding birds. The larger striped seeds, called culinary or grey striped sunflower, are usually used for human food and make delicious additions to baked foods. They are often salted in the shell and sold in small bags as snacks. In the Dakotas most people call them “crack and spits”. Birds love both types, although the black oil type is usually much less expensive.
Native Americans and wildlife know a good thing. Sunflower seeds are a nutritious food as appealing to people as birds.
