this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2024
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Ours are just peanut fiends. They're either nowhere to be found or gobbling up peanuts.
That's where I'm currently at with them. When I was working from home though, they'd call for me or get excited when they saw me walk up to the house. It made me feel like one of those people where the crows bring them stuff.
They taught some of the other birds to wait for the peanuts too. A breeding pair of cardinals and a few of the titmice learned from observation. Watching the tits fly off with a peanut near half their size is always entertaining!
Our cardinals seem to like peanuts but they can't really handle one in the shell; can't open their beaks wide enough to grip it. So we make sure they get the busted ones so there's an edge they can grab. Or they get safflower seeds which they have no problem with.
I primarily only feed the birds during snow season, and then I put out shelled and unshelled so everyone can grab their preference. They all seem to prefer the ones in shells (freshness? more natural taste?) but if it's the smaller birds or a squirrel that wants to really load itself up, they'll grab the loose pieces.
Most of the jays refuse to touch the ones not in shells though if whole ones are available and some will even hang back for a while to see if I'll toss some more good ones before they'll settle for the loosies. They'll get pretty competitive for them too.