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Feb 12, 2020

White-breasted Nuthatch loves sunflower seeds...

Photo by BarrytheBirder
...but prefers the unshelled seeds.
The Wild Birds Unlimited website says White-breasted Nuthatches typically take a single sunflower seed and fly to a nearby tree, then wedge it into the bark and hack it open with repeated blows from their bill.   In a study of their seed caching behaviour, it was found that they selected unshelled sunflower seeds approximately 25 percent more often than seeds still in the shell.   It appears this preference is driven by the fact that it takes the nuthatch about half the time to transport and cache an unshelled seed than it does a shelled one.
Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder



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