Diets for Orphaned Wildlife & Birds

Category	Wild Food	Substitute
Loons and Grebes	Fish, frogs, crabs, aquatic insects	Cod liver oil, raw lean beef, fish, frozen herring, night crawlers
Swans and Geese	Aquatic vegetation, some grains	Intermediate chicken scratch, wild bird seed, bread
Dabbling Ducks	Vegetation, grasses, wild celery, aquatic animal food, worms	Chicken scratch, bread, grass, ground beef, earthworms
Diving Ducks	Shrimp, mollusks, crabs, small fish	Bread, night crawlers, bone meal, beef, cod liver oil
Hawks	Mice, rats, rodents of all kinds, birds	Lean strips of beef, mice, milk, chicken, bone meal, cod liver oil
Kestrels	Grasshoppers, insects, wasps, locusts, very occasionally small birds	Beef strips, mealworms, milk, grasshoppers, bone meal, mice
Ospreys	Fish	Fish, beef strips, chicken
Bald Eagles	Fish, rodents, ducks, birds	Fish, lean beef, bone meal, cod liver oil, mice
Golden Eagles	Rodents, birds	Beef chunks, chicken, mice, bone meal
Owls	Rodents of all kinds	Milk, beef, mice, rats, chicken, bone meal, cod liver oil
Cuckoos	Tent caterpillars, worms, bugs, grasshoppers	Bone meal, cod liver oil, lean ground beef, beef strips, mealworms, bread
Hummingbirds	Nectar from flowers, tiny insects	Honey, sugar or molasses in water in small vials
Kingbirds, Vireos, Nighthawks, Whip-poor-wills, Swifts, Flycatchers, Swallows	Entirely insectivorous, will have to be hand-fed since they catch food in the air	Lean ground beef, very small strips of raw beef, bread and milk mealworms, flies
Kingfishers	Fish, minnows, crabs, frogs, locust, lizards	Fish, beef strips, night crawlers
Woodpeckers, Flickers, Sapsuckers	Grubs, ants, bores, beetles, berries in the winter	Mealworms, bread and milk, beef strips, suet, ground beef
Larks	Seeds, grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars	Mealworms, wild bird feed, bread
Magpies, Crows, Ravens	Insects, acorns, fruit, small birds	Ground beef, beef, chicken scratch, bread, hard-boiled eggs, bone meal, cod liver oil
Jays	Large insects, some frogs, mice, acorns and sunflower seeds	Ground beef, hard-boiled eggs, sunflower seeds, peanuts, nuts
Chats, Chickadees, Titmice, Nuthatches, Towhees	Pine seeds, sunflower seeds, acorns, poison ivy, beetles, weevils, ants, other insects	Shelled peanuts, nuts, blueberries, apples, wild bird seed, sunflower seeds, suet
Mockingbirds, Starlings, Brown Thrashers, Warblers, Robins, Thrushes, Catbirds, Bluebirds, Cedar Waxwings	Holly, grapes, cherries, sumac, pokeweed, Virginia creeper, cedar pyracantha, worms, ants, beetles. Fruits in fall and winter.	Apples, raisins, sour cherries, bread, suet, ground beef, mealworms, earthworms
Cowbirds, Sparrows, Blackbirds, Meadowlarks	Crickets, insects, weed seeds	Wild bird seed, scratch, bread, suet, ground beef
Orioles, Tanagers	Caterpillars, ants, spiders, wild fruits	Apples, cherries, blueberries, bread, ground beef, mealworms, suet
Grosbeaks, Purple Finches, Cardinals, Buntings, Crossbills	Insects, bugs, beetles, sunflower seeds, dogwood, sumac tree buds, fruits	Mealworms, suet, sunflower seeds, cherries, wild bird seed, bread
Herons, Egrets, Bitterns, Cranes, Rails, Plovers, Sandpipers, Phalaropes	Crayfish, shrimp, marine worms, frogs, insects, mice, shrews, snails, wild grasses, some grains	Bread, beef strips, night crawlers, chicken scratch, bone meal, cod liver oil
Grouse, Doves, Pheasants, Partridges, Pigeons, Turkeys, Bobwhites	Mainly grain, some summer and fall insects	Chicken scratch, wild bird seed, bread
Woodcocks	Mainly earthworms, some grains, flies, beetles, spiders, caterpillars	Earthworms, night crawlers, beef strips, bone meal, cod liver oil