This Carolina Wren, Thyothorus ludovicianus demonstrates its acrobatic talent of feeding on beloved peanuts while positioned upside down. Wrens usually hold their tail feathers up, but while dining in a downward bird position, the wren’s tail feathers appear to be off to the side and against the feeder, maybe helping with its balance?
I’ve seen other birds nosh in the same way. In my garden Carolina Chickadees, Poecile carolinensis and Black-crested Titmice, Baeolophus atricristatus are the the other birds most likely to nibble beak-down and topsy-turvy.
Wrens are my favorite, and a pair has shown up here. I was so happy to see them. I also have a Nuthatch that like to hang upside down. Hope all is well back in Texas.
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Are they Carolina wrens or maybe Bewick’s? Either way, they are darling, fun to watch, and sing beautifully.
I always loved your Frick-n-Frack stories! Now, we need a northern Frick-n-Frack!
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We’ve come to expect the word “nosh” from you every so often, and this is one of those posts.
Even more so than birds, insects seem able to do things upside down or in any other position.
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Well there’s nosh, nibble, snarf (which I haven’t used)–there’s only so many ways to say ‘eat’!
We’re rather boring, I think, with our upright ways! 🙂
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And yet upright also means ‘of good morals; practicing ethical values.’
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Which not all of us do…:)
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I miss our bird feeder activity. It’s bear season, so we and the birds must wait.
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Sheesh, ‘bear season’ sounds intense and potentially dangerous, but how fun to see them–at a distance!
Our birds aren’t eating much this time of year. They’ll pick up again sometime in November, prepping for the next season’s breeding.
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Thankfully, black bears are docile and only defend themselves when provoked. Dogs attacking them usually don’t fare well.
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I’ll bet. I hope there are too many dogs that tangle with bears!
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It’s so interesting to watch birds at the feeder. Our three different nuthatches also like to feed upside down on the suet feeder.
I have tried similar peanut feeders here but am not getting many takers. But when I add peanuts to the tray feeders, they disappear in no time. I think our birds are too lazy to chip away at them.
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When I researched why some birds eat upside down, I mostly found information about nuthatches, which we don’t have here. I did enjoy watching them on a recent trip to Central Oregon and then to Seattle. Such darling little things!
Lots of birds here like the peanuts. Like you, I put out peanuts in-the-shell on a platform and the jays, sometimes woodpeckers, and even the little titmice really like to snag those for snacks. And the good news? Those stinkin’ European Starlings won’t touch them!
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Oh, wow–that is really something. Cute photo!
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Thanks, Beth!
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The big surprise here is that wrens will eat peanuts. Somehow I came to imagine that they prefer insects, or the occsional sunflower chip. It may be that they’ve been eating the peanut chips in my mix, as well as sunflower. I didn’t realize they’d tip tail to eat, either. Of course, I don’t have any tube feeders; upside down eating in a platform feeder isn’t necessary.
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Have you ever seen an open-air beehive? I found one at the Buddhist Temple — I’ll be posting some pics once I figure out what’s going on. It seems to be more common than I would have assumed, and the one I found was really big!
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I haven’t, but just looked it up! I guess that maybe I’ve seen something on a nature show, but certainly not in real life. I look forward to your photos and story.
I would think it’s not ideal, as they’d be vulnerable to the elements, but bees are pretty tough!
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Mine do, at least! It seems that everyone likes peanuts except the House Finches–they’re all about the safflower and sunflower seeds.
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