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Hello
I had a visit yesterday from two coal tits who took away half a feeder full of sunflower hearts - they are back today and are most welcome - but does anyone know if they stop hoarding food eventually !!!.
Worried they will endlessly take away lots of the sunflower seeds for hoarding.
Thank you
Coal tits are known to 'cache' nuts and seeds in a similar way to jays and squirrels. When food is plentiful (i.e. when you refill your feeder) coal tits will hide some of it and retrieve it later.
Unfortunately, the coal tit's memory is not as great as its ingenuity in hiding places and you will most likely find forgotten sunflower seeds germinating in the most unlikely places next spring. They will obviously continue to use the feeders while they can and only resort to their hidden food in times of need.
More information on coal tits can be seen here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/c/coaltit/index.asp
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Nuthatches will do it too. As long as there is a plentiful supply they will keep tucking them away. You could try peanuts instead, if they are in a nut feeder where they can't take them whole they will eat them instead of storing them. Another solution would be to give your sunflower hearts a whiz in a blender, they won't try to store little bits.
Build it and they will come.
Liz R said: Coal tits are known to 'cache' nuts and seeds in a similar way to jays and squirrels. When food is plentiful (i.e. when you refill your feeder) coal tits will hide some of it and retrieve it later. Unfortunately, the coal tit's memory is not as great as its ingenuity in hiding places and you will most likely find forgotten sunflower seeds germinating in the most unlikely places next spring. They will obviously continue to use the feeders while they can and only resort to their hidden food in times of need. More information on coal tits can be seen here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/c/coaltit/index.asp
I had to smile at your comment about memory as last autumn my enterprising squirrel (reputed to also have a poor memory) buried a few nuts in one of my tubs - I have 7 identical in a row against the fence in my yard.
Shortly after that I switched the tubs around to enable those containing spring-flowering bulbs to get the most light. Some weeks later, back comes my squirrel and proceeds to gently dig in the tub where he thought the nuts should be (i.e. the third one away from the gate). Gentle digging became more enthusiatic digging; became furious and frantic digging with compost flying hither and thither. Eventually he gave up and sat down on the path, pondering what had gone wrong. I did feel sorry for him as he had actually returned to the right tub in the line - had I not moved them around.
Squirrel
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!