In Attracting Birds to South Florida Gardens , I advise readers that birds depend on a garden’s plants for food rather than bird feeders, but there is an exception: Even native plants can take months to recover after being storm-stripped of the seeds, fruit, flowers and insects birds need to survive. In the interim, there is little to no food to sustain birds and other pollinators, so it helps to tide birds over with black oil sunflower seeds, millet and sugar water.