Fresh Black Oil Sunflower Seed Is The Top Wildbird Food Demanded By The Most Birds. Put some in your yard and just watch what they do. You can use straight Black Oil Sunflower Seed in a feeder, or you can "cook" for your birds and make your own mixes. Do not feed Black Oil Sunflower Seed to pet birds as they do not get the exercise that wild birds do. Also, there is more dust in wildbird food that in birdseed packaged for pet birds. Black Oil Sunflower seed will leave a mess of empty shells under the feeder. This is worth it. Black Oil Sunflower Seed is sold by the pound.