chickadees and hoarding
October 18, 2008Last night I bought a 5-lb bag of sunflower seeds, the black kind recommended for birds. At the feeder this morning, I tossed out a fistful. Within a couple of hours, probably less, they’re all gone, taken by a few chickadees.
Despite the fact that they’re hounded by the juncos, the chickadees do a quick overview of the various seeds, and pick out only what they want. Some days, it’s bits of peanuts. The popcorn yesterday seemed to intimidate all the birds, but after I cleaned off the feeder, a lone chickadee swooped in to get the one morsel of popcorn left.
No, they didn’t manage to eat all the sunflower seeds. They cache it somewhere, hopefully where the squirrels can’t get to.
