Bluetits and peanuts (1 Viewer)

[SarahK]

Does anyone know how long a peanut will keep a blue tit going for?

I've only recently put up a seed feeder and a peanut feeder, and things are still very quiet. Some of the seed has been taken from the seed feeder but the peanuts are untouched, so I tried putting out a few whole peanuts. On Sunday I saw a Bluetit take a peanut, eat it in a nearby bush and leave. There are about five peanuts being taken per day, so does this mean I have one bluetit eating five peanuts or five bluetits eating a peanut each?

Not really a very serious question, just idle curiosity :bounce:

 

[david2004]

Do you mean the calorific content of one peanut? Can't say about the five peanuts or five blue tits, sorry sarah. It took a while for birds to take to my feeders again when i started feeding them in may after a 2 year long absence of food - ESPECIALLY the nuts. Birds mostly peck away at them, so it may not seem like much is being taken. Eventually birds took the the peanuts, and they are popular with all the tits, greenfinches, starlings and a GSW!

 

[SarahK]

Yes, I suppose I am curious about how long my bluetit will be flying around for before he comes back for another. Has anyone done a study of calorific value of peanuts versus the calories burnt by a bird?

 

[Katy Penland]

I find our peanut-loving birds tend to stash them away rather than eat them immediately, especially this time of year. Earlier in the summer, though, the Steller's and scrub jays would each grab one, fly up into a nearby tree, and hammer them open, eating the nuts (I only provide whole, roasted, in-shell peanuts). The northern flickers will hammer one open right here in the yard and eat it -- that is, if they can finish their "meal" before the jays double-team them to nab the nuts out from under their beaks when distracted by another jay. Too funny to watch.

 

[Mary]

Hi Sarah. The CJ Wildbird food catalogue gives the calorific value of the different feeds, and has a chart showing which months of the year different birds demand most garden feed. It's interesting reading.
Mary

 

[SarahK]

Hi Sarah. The CJ Wildbird food catalogue gives the calorific value of the different feeds, and has a chart showing which months of the year different birds demand most garden feed. It's interesting reading.
Mary

Thanks for the tip Mary. I've requested a catalogue from CJ, should be helpful - and if I manage to attract a few more birds into the garden I might even have to stock up on feed from them!

 

[Pertinax]

Well, heres my mathimatifications

One blue tit needs
11 calories a day

One peanut has 1.5 calories (average i assume done with kitchen scales dating circa 1962 and data from "the family health encycopaedia")

So 11 calories by 1.5 peanut calories = 7 peanuts a day.
If the peanuts are bigger or i am out then more it is more like 6 peanuts a day is needed for one blue tit.