Is the stuff in a bird feeder properly called "bird food" or "bird seed"?

I call it bird seed. I’ve never heard it referred to as bird food, but I’m sure that is okay to say.

Your girlfriend is right.:)
I’ve heard squirrels can jump 8.5 feet

I call it birdseed but I don’t know much about squirrels.

Birdseed. It’s more specific, and that’s what usually goes into a birdfeeder. To me, bird food is a broad term, referring to anything that you can give birds to eat, including birdseed, suet, bread, scraps and leftovers, etc, which may be given to birds on various contraptions like trays, platforms, and other containers.

I’ve only heard bird seed used, although there are plenty of other options. For example, we’ve put out hummingbird feeders of sugar water, suet to attract the insect eating varieties, and cracked corn kernels. In these cases, it would be proper to call them ‘bird food’, but we just refer to them as what they specifically are.

In your case it should be squirrel food.

It’s bird feed.

Bird seed is what one uses to grow birds.

<sigh> city folk

It’s actually squirrel food. The birds are lucky to get any.

I can’t improve on @Blondesjon‘s bon mot.

Everybody beat me to the good answers.

I like to call it “birdy buffet” coz i’m stoopid like dat ;¬}

On the packages it reads, “birdseed” correct?

I call it bird seed. For my pet bird I just say she needs food.

I call it squirrel bait.

I must be a complete weirdo then, because I say “food for the birds.” As in, “I need to put out food for the birds.”

As an aside, if your birdfeeders – look at that, they’re feeders not seeders- though if your birds are Jewish they could be seders… are on poles, this type of squirrel baffle has worked perfectly for us. It didn’t stop the raccoon that we saw yesterday, but the squirrels are flummoxed by it.