I solved that problem by having the unshelled sunflower seeds (black oil) in a feeder in the back of the yard; and I have shelled seeds (I use the "patio mix" sold by Seattle Audubon) in the front feeder because it is not so messy. Some of the chickadees use both feeders, but others just use the back feeder (many of my birds are banded--and now that Puget Sound Bird Observatory (PSBO)is color banding chickadees in my yard, I'll be better able to document which ones use both, or only the back one.)

Christine Southwick
N Seattle/Shoreline
clsouthwick at comcast.net

On Fri, 1 Feb 2008, Dennis Paulson wrote:

> In discussion with my wife, I recalled why we tried unshelled (I'm defining
> "shelled" as with shells) sunflower seeds and then stopped using them. All
> through the winter chickadees and nuthatches gather sunflower seeds (with
> shells) to cache them, but they apparently won't do that with the unshelled
> ones, at least that was the behavior of our birds, and their visits to the
> feeders diminished perceptibly when we started using them in the feeders. So we
> went back to shelled seeds, even though it was great for a while not having the
> ground littered with sunflower-seed shells.
>
> The only way I would use them now is for House Finches and the other birds that
> would eat them on the spot, but I'd have to find a feeder that the House
> Finches can't get into for the seeds with shells on them for the cacheing
> birds.
>
> -----
> Dennis Paulson
> 1724 NE 98 St.
> Seattle, WA 98115
> 206-528-1382
> dennispaulson at comcast.net
>
>
>
>

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