My blue jay feeder routine got challenged by a Cornell study

I always thought putting out whole peanuts was the best way to attract blue jays, but I read a report from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology last month that said shelled peanuts actually bring in more species over time. The study tracked 50 feeders across three states and found that whole peanuts mostly just drew squirrels and jays, while shelled ones invited cardinals and woodpeckers too. Has anyone else here tried switching to shelled peanuts and seen a difference in their feeder visitors?

2 comments

2 Comments

barnes.brian1mo ago

That whole peanuts vs shelled thing reminds me of how people treat anything "premium" as better, when the simpler version actually does MORE in the long run. It's like how I stopped buying the fancy birdseed mixes and just got straight black oil sunflower seeds and suddenly had way more variety showing up.

angelaellis1mo ago

Wait, black oil sunflower seeds are actually the less premium option compared to the fancy mixes. The fancy mixes have millet, cracked corn, and stuff that less desirable birds eat. Black oil sunflower seeds are just straight up the good stuff, no filler, which is why more birds show up. Theyre not the simpler version, theyre the core ingredient that all birds want. The "premium" mixes are usually full of cheap filler seeds that squirrels and house sparrows love, not the songbirds you actually want. So youre not downgrading to simpler, youre skipping the marketing fluff and going straight to what works. Isnt it funny how the "premium" label gets slapped on things that are actually less efficient?