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You May Have Been Adding Nuts to Your Bird Feeders Incorrectly — Expert Reveals the Safest Way

Nutmeal is one of the most preferred food items that birds are attracted to, but when it comes to a feeder, watch out for one thing.

BY NEHA B.

PUBLISHED 1 DAY AGO

A yellow-grey bird is devouring the nuts from a person's hand. (Representative Cover Image Source: Freepik | Wirestock)

Birds nowadays are keen on humans' favorite delicacies. Take a look at the social media feed and you’ll find a notorious cockatoo couple relishing a whole pizza, a bird enjoying a milk-dipped cookie, and a toucan trying sparkling soda for the first time. However, most of them still prefer the traditional, good-old snack: nuts. Scoop out a handful of cashews or almonds from the jar and swig them in your mouth – for humans, it’s as simple as that. But for a fuzzy-bodied birdie, a nut is a mystery. It will employ all sorts of strategies to peel away the hard shell and crack it open to unfold the mysterious flavor nestling inside.

Person feeding a bird with a palmful of bird seed (Representative Image Source: Freepik)

Nutcrackers, for instance, are infamous for cracking open the nuts by placing them in tight crevices. Others tend to chip away or burst open the nutshell using either their sharp beaks or long, pointy bills to enjoy the nutritious feast embedded within. Oftentimes, you’ll find their nest, tree hole, or birdhouse clattering with clusters of hoarded nuts, seeds, and berries. When Amber Lush from Burkmann Nutrition’s Bird Seed Division observed her bird feeders, she was fascinated to realize the enticing relationship between birds and nuts. Each time she would visit the grocery store, she would wonder which nut a particular bird guest would love to have while visiting her backyard.

Chickadee Approaching a Winter Bird Feeder. (Representative Image Source: Pexels | Jay Brand)

Probably a flock of woodpeckers, chickadees, or jays would swoop in to grab a few peanuts, or maybe some catbirds, robins, or cardinals would dash towards her bird feeder to enjoy a platter of fresh blueberries. From black-billed magpies to dark-eyed juncos, blue jays, titmice, wrens, and creepers, each bird has its own preference for nuts, whether whole, shelled, or fragmented. Lush pointed out that since birds love “high-fat treats,” she often stocks her cart with packets of almonds, pecans and walnuts to cashews, macadamias, and pistachios.

Bird perched on a feeder filled with nuts and seeds (Representative Image Source: Freepik)

“Even when I’m at the grocery store, now I think about which birds could eat the nuts if they didn’t have salt on them. Blue jays love them. Woodpeckers love them. Nuthatches, chickadees, and titmice will carry some off, too,” Lush shared with Birds & Blooms. These nuts, she explained, can be served to the feathered friends in either specially-designed feeders or open trays. She emphasized that birds don’t like to make a mess of their bird food, mainly the nuts whose shells have been removed. “Out-of-the-shell peanuts and chopped tree nuts work in just about any type, including hoppers and tube feeders,” she said.

Cute bird perched on a feeder filled with seeds (Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | Brett Sayles)

Some birds, such as nuthatches, chickadees, and titmice, will either fly off with the feed and eat it or hoard it somewhere for later, Lush explained, adding that autumn is especially the main season when birds tend to create caches of these nuts to get ready for the winter. Clark’s nutcrackers, for example, “can haul off dozens of pine nuts by storing them in their sublingual pouch, a special pocket behind their tongues.” While you feed your birds with their favorite nut foods, pay attention, because these wholesome nutmeals will also attract all those mischievous squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, bears, or cats who may be prowling around the neighbourhood for free food.