Bird Feeder Journal: why are they snitching a seed and flying away?

Susan Holland Bird Report

They have four generous feeding stations and a loaded feeder!

But they come today and grab one seed and dart off instead of fighting off all comers to hog the station and eat until sated.

The juncos and chickadees and finches have quit their fighting for monopoly of the feeder, and are now doing a different dance. The little characters are doing a quick stop at the take-out window and flying off with just one bite today. Why?

Their eggs have hatched, I realize.

The endless parade are parents who have a nest nearby, of wide open beaks waiting to have food jammed down their throats. Wide open beaks with an eye on each side and no visible body. Just tiny rhombuses clustered and opening wider as the parent’s morsel comes toward them.

There must be lunch breaks for the parents wherein they get to gobble some seeds down to store energy for this endless work. I saw some adult birds working through the larger seeds earlier today, but this afternoon they are at the perch so briefly, taking the small millet y seeds one by one and flying off immediately — with a mission!

And it explains why suddenly the feeder needs replenishing so often — empty so quickly that I shall have to visit Petco soon to get more special mix.

The feeder never stops swinging until the sun goes down.

Susan G Holland