Wild birds and shelled nuts..do they eat them? (1 Viewer)

[alexaii]

Most all wild birds that visit my dinner bell feeder, which contains only shelled peanuts(peanut splits), take the nut and leave. Has anyone actually seen a wild bird, other than the blue jay, actually eat them? And where do they fly off to? I'm wondering if they actually eat them or if they just like flying off with them (like winning a prize) and storing them some place. Has anyone come across a video showing them actually eating shelled peanuts? Please get back to me on this. Thanks

 

[stonechat1]

Hi,
my Dad regulary feeds the tits, woodpeckers and nuthatches amongst other things with walnuts crushed with a hammer. The birds then fly with parts of them from the feeder in the next copse where they are feeding them. No experience with peanuts as we have walnuts from our trees.
And yes, bird eat nuts, they love them!

 

[Tideliner]

Have a close look at the nuts in the feeder. I would expect you to find many with pecked spots on them where the bird has fed on them while still inside the feeder. I often watch tits take out a nut , fly to the nearest safe perch and proceed to eat it.

 

[Brian2]

I have seen Jay, Magppie and Collared Dove all eat the nuts along with smaller Tits and finches pecking smaller bits from the feeder....the Great tit will take a whole nut into the tree and feed on it slowly out of site and the Woodpecker seems to be happy to peck away on the feeder too.
My father in law crushes his peanuts and then Starling and Sparrow feed rapidly on them...costs him a fortune.

 

[nartreb]

Lots of species in Massachusetts cache their food. They probably are "flying off with them and storing them some place"... and will eat them later.

 

[WBF AH]

I think you're probably better off feeding with black-oil sunflower seeds as pretty much all birds love it!

 

[Bird_Bill]

I performed an impromptu taste test earlier this year, with black oil, & striped sunflower seeds, walnuts, and southern pecans. Both walnuts and a single pecan tree, I have in yard and birds recognize as a food source. Long been a proponent of walnuts, if they can be found cheaply. All passerines excluding Mourning Doves (sunflower seeds), favored walnuts, with pecans second, and sunflower seeds lastly. Red Bellied and Downy woodpeckers prefer walnuts over suet. Pic is Downy female, during one test. Walnut she's about to grab, pecans on the other side, and sunflower seeds inter mixed. She knows what she wants, and she's done with it. Have nesting Blue jays, with 3 surviving in brood, I cant keep up with walnuts. So, the jays get supplemental peanuts, which they do indeed like.

 

[stuey]

I keep raw California almonds scattered on my balcony and the hairy woodpeckers dependably come by, pick one up, find a space between the balcony floorboards they can wedge it into, and peck at it like crazy till it's ingestible.

The black-capped chickadees come by as well. They usually just pick up their almond and fly away, but some of them will try attacking the almond right there. I've seen some of them "step" on the almond to keep it in place while they try breaking it down. I don't know if that makes them more or less crafty than the woodpeckers.

 

[Bird_Bill]

As I understand, California almond groves aren't that old. Perhaps dating back 60 years, and much of that time as immature trees unable to bear fruit. Amazing how quickly a food source can be recognized and learned. In this case, forage that is introduced to the environment.