What's That Brown Bird with a Black and White Striped Head?

Good morning, I was delighted to happen upon your site! I have been feeding blue jays in my yard for a while. The store where I purchase the seed, ran out, so I bought some for indoor birds (it looked the same). Now I have these little birds eating along with the blue jays, but I don't know what they are. They are brownish and have a black and white striped head. I have been unable as of yet to capture them with the camera. I was wondering if you have any idea what they could be? I live in southeastern NC. Thank you.
It could be several birds. Top on the list are White-throated sparrows, Red breasted Nuthatch, or Chipping Sparrow. I'm actually not very good at naming birds just by descriptions. If you can send a photo I'm sure I can identify the mystery bird. Wild Birds Unlimited also has the online field guide that makes identifying unfamiliar birds easy. It's http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search.
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As for the seed, birds usually have a preference. Black-Oil Sunflower, Fine and Medium Sunflower Chips, Peanuts, White Proso Millet, Safflower, and Nyjer® Thistle are among the most preferred seed types.

There are 18 Wild Birds Unlimited stores in NC. Perhaps one is nearby and you can check out their field guides with birds in your area or ask them for more information. To find a Wild Birds Unlimited store near you go to http://maps.wbu.com/.
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I hope I've been some help. Please write again with any questions. I love birds and it's nice to hear positive feedback about the blog.

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You can send questions to my e-mail at bloubird@gmail.com, visit our web page at http://lansing.wbu.com/, check out our daily blog at http://lansingwbu.blogspot.com/, keep up with what I'm doing from twitter at http://twitter.com/birdsunlimited, and become a fan of our Wild Birds Unlimited Mid-Michigan Facebook page at http://tiny.cc/QmIv5.