BIRDIE THIRTY: "Several birds enjoying spreadable suet" - EWN at 9:30am on 7-18-2026

These Blue Jays are enjoying one of their favorite feeder foods; in-shell peanuts! Blue Jays can be observed at feeders shaking in-shell peanuts to tell if they are full or empty. Peanuts are a great food to provide Blue Jays to supplement their natural diet of acorns, as peanuts contain 4 times more protein which helps them maintain body mass and helps them to grow new feathers when molting. These beautiful birds will bury seeds (or peanuts) up to 2.5 miles away from their original source and usually remember where they are! Due to this habit (of burying acorns) over a wide area, many species of oak trees have become dependent on Blue Jays for the dispersal of their acorns.

This Tufted Titmouse is carefully selecting a peanut from a seed cylinder packed with sunflower chips, peanut pieces, tree nuts, bite-sized suet nuggets, dried mealworms, enhanced safflower, and calcium. Unhindered by its upside-down position, this acrobatic little bird often takes the time to select the largest sample of whichever food it is currently grabbing. Do you feel like Titmice have been flooding your feeders lately? Recently fledged Tufted Titmice don’t make their parents “empty nesters” too quickly: it is not uncommon for a young Titmouse to stay with its parents for the duration of its first Winter. You might be seeing more of these talented and determined birds for a few more seasons before this year’s generation strikes out on its own.

This male Baltimore Oriole is feeding live mealworms to his fledgling from a simple powder-coated hanging cup feeder. Many people think of these Orioles as only eating fruit, nectar, and jelly, but they depend on insects for food, too. Those who successfully attract these gorgeous birds to their yards may also enjoy an unexpected benefit: unlike many other insect-eating birds, Baltimore Orioles will often eat insect species which are considered pests, such as tent caterpillars, gypsy moths, and even fall web worms!

Here is another type of caged feeder providing an unhindered opportunity for a smaller bird to enjoy a meal without interruption from larger visitors. This male Downy Woodpecker is hammering out food from a suet cylinder which contains extra high protein and fat - and also a good amount of hot pepper: though squirrels can’t access the food in the cage, the hot pepper also helps discourage raccoons and other mammals from taking too much interest! This video shows the precise holes woodpeckers can make. As one would think, this “pecking” does dull their beaks… But they have cells on the end of their bills which are constantly replacing the material that is whittled down with each peck. This keeps the chisel-pointed bill strong and resilient, while allowing it to be sharpened with every blow.

This Black-capped Chickadee is selecting options from a high-protein, high-fat seed blend which is especially designed to address the nutritional needs of feather growth and molting. During the breeding season this bird’s diet consists mainly of insects, with only a small amount of its food coming from seed and fruit: for the rest of the year, it eats closer to a balanced diet, more evenly split between meat (such as insects, spiders and the fat from carrion) and vegetable matter (as in seeds, etc.). The little Chickadee in this video is enjoying a respite from the competition brought on by larger birds, as this particular feeder is designed to fit inside a bird-safe cage that allows smaller birds inside (Eastern Bluebird size and smaller) but keeps larger birds out (like European Starlings and Common Grackles).