I wanted to highlight a bird seed I found for cheap online that’s well-liked by Northern Cardinals and other songbirds like Chickadees, House Finches, and others. I ordered a five pound bag of Wagner’s Black Oil Sunflower Seed and wanted to take a close look to see if it’s a quality bird seed I’d recommend to others.

Sunflower is my favorite bird seed and I always try to have a bag, or several, on hand. I bought this bag for $10.98 on Amazon, at 14 cents per ounce (price subject to change). That’s one of the best online prices I’ve found for a five pound bag of black oil sunflower seed.

BUT, is this seed high-quality? Read on for my deep dive on this bird seed. I’ll post some pictures along the way, so you can judge if this is a seed you’d like to buy. At the end of this post, I’ll also put links for shopping.

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I’m putting together this review as a bird feeding hobbyist who’s tried more bird seed that I can count since I started this hobby years ago. I’m also trying to build up a database online of bird seed reviews and my experience with them.

Disclaimer: Some links found on this page are Amazon affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, I might earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Checking Out Wagner’s Black Oil Sunflower Seed

Sunflower seed is one of my favorite foods to offer at my feeders for two reasons. First, it draws in the largest variety of birds (I’ll list them later). And, it’s cheap! Don’t take my word for it. Bird experts at Cornell and Audubon also speak highly of sunflower seed for bird feeding, due to its nutrients and appeal to many different bird species.

This bag of bird seed arrived in good shape and I’m pleased by the overall quality of the seed. It’s fresh and will do well in any platform, hopper, or tube bird feeder. I’ve been using this seed in my cedar hopper bird feeder with a lot of success. Cardinals stop by in the morning and evening and enjoy it! Chickadees, Finches, Nuthatches, and Sparrows are also going at it quickly.

Here’s a link to view and purchase the seed here

A Close Up View of this Bird Seed

Like most cheap bird seeds, I did find filler in this bag (some sticks)…but not a ton compared to other bird seeds. See below for a sample I put out into a paper towel. This seed is free of other fillers like red milo, cracked corn, and oats. 

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Here’s a view of the back of the bag below. I like to post this in my reviews so you can see that it’s a nice source of protein and quality-fat. The ingredients list looks good too, just sunflower seed.

Birds That Will Like This Bird Seed

I mentioned a few earlier, but here’s a full list of birds that will enjoy Wagner’s Black Oil Sunflower Seed.

• Blue Jays
• Chickadees
• Dark-Eyed Juncos
• House Finches
• Grosbeaks
• Mourning Doves
• Northern Cardinals
• Nuthatches
• Pine Siskins
• Titmice
• Woodpeckers
• Wrens

Shopping Options

Here are several places you can buy this bird seed online. It’s worth checking all of these for price differences. Let me know if any of these links ever become outdated.

• Amazon (5 pound bag – where I bought mine)
• Walmart (5 pound bag)
• Chewy (20 pound bag)
• Home Depot (20 pound bag)

I’d also recommend you check out my reviews of some other dirt-cheap quality sunflower seeds that Cardinals enjoy. It’s worth price-matching with these products too. I’d recommend any of them.

• Review: Valley Farms Black Oil Sunflower Seed
• Audubon Park Cardinal Blend

Also, if you want to shop varieties of Cardinal bird seed mixes in general on Amazon, here’s a link to that too.

If you end up buying this bird seed, let me know in the comments section below what you think of it. If you have questions or comments, I always welcome those: debaundan@gmail.com