Can wild birds eat peanut butter

Birds that eat any nuts or plant based food in the wild will be the only birds likely to eat up your peanut butter, whereas you get to experience them eating it in the yard.

Birds can eat peanut butter with specialist wild bird PB that offers more vital ingredients such fruits or beef suet. Human peanut butter can be offered with less salt the better. Prioritize wild bird peanut butter in winter as birds can replace lost energy with this protein rich nutty spread, served up in its own jar.

So many things you can do with peanut butter offered to backyard birds, though for now I would concentrate on serving it up in its own jar for no hassle or mess.

Birds certainly can eat peanut butter so you can go ahead and open a jar to put out in the yard. And that's it, no special knowledge or bird feeder needed - as birds of all species can be seen to eat it directly out of its clear plastic or glass jar.

Benefits to feeding smooth or crunchy peanut butter - though it really doesn't matter which kind - is that birds can take a healthy supply of protein.

How this benefits birds is that it gives them an extra boost of energy while replacing lost body fat in times of need; or in dead of winter where they use up more energy to forage.

No shortage of common backyard birds likely to take up your generous offer of this protein rich peanut butter - with many of the Woodpecker family seen too take to it.

Other birds seen at the peanut butter jar can be Chickadees, Titmouse, Steller's Jay, Nuthatches and Warblers - including Wren's for some of you.

How you'd serve up peanut butter to birds is in its own jar standing upright - being aware smaller birds will benefit this way - while larger, more awkward birds can only eat if the jar is on its side. I would therefore keep the jar on its side at all times.

You can buy peanut butter jar bird feeders where the jar simply slots in, and as the jar must always be on its side - birds can cling on the rim or land on any perch made available.

Birds can eat peanut butter

You can indeed feed peanut butter to wild birds with great success, as they really do like it if fed to them, especially if made available at the right time of the year.

Peanut butter can be offered in the yard as a way for common backyard birds to replace lost energy with this protein rich, fatty food.

With smooth or crunchy peanut butter it really doesn't matter, and in many respects nor does it matter if its bog standard people peanut butter or what would be formulated for wild birds. Birds really do like peanut butter with many found to feed on it.

I will say in particularly the White-breasted Nuthatch and Orange-crowned Warbler have been recorded using peanut butter jar bird feeders many times over.

If the bird species are nut eating birds in the wild, then these same birds will likely be our suspects at the peanut butter jar. Of the birds peanut butter can be fed to, they can include Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, Wren's, and Steller's Jay.

As a seed and therefore a plant eating bird, you may even see Northern Cardinals feed on peanut butter if the jar remains accessible to this ground feeding bird.

And if that isn't enough, there's sure to be many of the Woodpecker family feeding on peanut butter - including the Downy, Hairy, Red-headed, Golden-fronted, Red-bellied and everyone's favorite... the Pileated Woodpecker.

Birds can eat peanut butter as a way to re-store lost energy as they forage, but let's take a look at what kind of peanut butter.

Less of people PB

Of the many types of peanut butter you can offer wild birds, I will say for the most part peanut butter developed for human consumption, can be made safe for birds if fed in smaller doses.

You see salt is a substance that is pretty much toxic to wild birds, and as people PB is going to contained a certain amount of salt - it can indeed be a killer to birds.

On the plus side no single wild bird in your yard is going to eat so much peanut butter to themselves, thus a small amount of salt cannot harm them. In fact there's so little salt in people PB - any one bird eating it all up should be safe.

However that isn't to say we shouldn't just feed wild birds salted peanut butter.

To begin with if there's an opportunity for you to buy healthy or no salt peanut butter made for people but fed to birds, then be sure to use this kind.

Less people peanut butter for our birds is what you will be looking at, whereas specialist wild bird peanut butter has no limits.

Quality peanut butter tends to be all natural ingredients even with salt present; plant-eating birds can appreciate this but in knowing too much salt can make any one bird ill, or worse, go carefully by making sure its fed to many birds.

Prioritize specialist peanut butter

I will say straight up wild bird peanut butter made available as just that, PB, isn't so readily available as if you were offering human peanut butter to birds.

In fact to feed wild birds their own peanut butter it will be part mixed with their favorites found at the bird feeders.

Backyard birds own peanut butter can include fruits, beef suet, also just suet - or other ingredients to make up the bulk of it.

With that in mind understand wild bird peanut butter is much healthier than the people kind, with no salt in sight.

Price wise I don't expect there's much difference between people vs wild bird peanut butter - only you may have to spend more on the bird kind as its in a larger tube, so it will naturally cost you more.

Specialist peanut butter is formulated as such is less messy to work with - as its sure to not give wild birds issues around getting caught up in their feathers - and it certainly won't harden around their bill.

Bird peanut butter is super good for wild birds just as the people kind is a great source of protein - only the wild bird peanut butter can provide a much needed source of protein in a safe way, with no dangerous ingredients.

Offer peanut butter in winter

You know what I'll say it now so there's no confusion later, rest assured you can feed wild birds regular or specialist bird peanut butter 365 days of the year.

Why I mention that is because protein rich bird food must be prioritized come the fall and into the winter, as birds can be seen to switch their dietary needs over to protein rich food as the winter draws in.

In the wild, birds will eat many seeds all year but can be seen to eat only fruits in the summer, or wintertime. Nuts or plant based foods are then eaten up in winter as its a way for birds to replace lost energy with this fatty yet protein rich bird food.

Peanut butter can be a lot of fun to offer to our backyard birds, but remember it serves a serious issue - to help birds get through the cold tough winters.

Do prioritize peanut butter in winter while making it available in an open jar set up in the yard - without being covered in snow - or slot the peanut butter jar into a specialist PB bird feeder.

Why you should probably offer less or no peanut butter in spring through summertime evolves around the well being of the fledglings.

You see parenting birds bring back whole peanuts to their babies which can be a choking hazard. Peanut butter isn't much of a choking issue if its the smooth kind, though the spread can get caught up in their feathers.

Personally I would wait until the young have left the nests come mid summer while always offering smooth peanut butter to be sure.

Open jar up to serve

As many common backyard birds can eat peanut butter formulated for people, or specialist wild bird peanut butter that is not safe for human consumption, let's find out how to serve it up to birds.

Now what you must go for first thing is to use the peanut butter jar as a bird feeder, with no other equipment or expense needed to serve up this protein rich bird food.

What most smaller backyard birds will do when eating peanut butter is land on the open top rim of the jar to perch as they feed, poking their bill in.

Larger birds can do this but at this point the peanut butter is really going to become less stable, with it likely to topple over certainly a possibility.

What you must do then to be sure all birds can eat directly out of the peanut butter jar, is to simply lay it on its side. How this will help is both small or large birds can feed, while the jar remains safe at all times.

As a rule of thumb plastic PB jars are lightweight and therefore unsafe, whereas glass peanut butter jars tend to be heavier, thus are safer to use standing up.

To use people butter out of the jar is certainly OK to do if you want to, by spreading it up in the tree branches, where birds frequent the most - while being sure no peanut butter goes to waste - and to keep it in the shade at all times.

You also have the option to open a peanut butter jar to slot it in its own safe to use peanut butter bird feeder; wooden options are made to be mounted whilst made in durable plastic Flutter Butter type options are designed to hang.

Not all birds can use small, restricting bird feeders so take that into consideration before splashing the cash on a specialist peanut butter bird feeder.

Conclusion

I can assure you wild birds can eat peanut butter in many forms, and while specialist bird PB should be prioritized, regular peanut butter for people can be offered.

People peanut butter can contain salt though if its served to many birds at the same time this small quantity will do no harm. Peanut butter for birds is usually mixed up with fruits, seed mixes or beef suet - in which can be used to attract more birds to it.

Birds will eat peanut butter to get their much needed intake of protein, thus its seen to fatten them up while providing enough energy that is lost when they spend their day foraging.

Nuts can be fed to wild birds all year round, as many birds eat nuts and plant based food in the wild.

Protein is needed more in wintertime or in the cold as food becomes scared, birds use up more energy. With that in mind, serve up peanut butter all year whilst prioritizing it more in the winter.

Don't make it difficult on yourself when serving people or specialist peanut butter to common backyard birds in your yard... when you only need to remove the lid to position the opened jar out in the garden.

Smaller birds can be seen to perch on the rim of the standing upright plastic or glass jar to feed, where they will be seen to dip their beaks in to take a bite.

Larger birds can be seen to struggle to feed on peanut butter out of a standing upright jar, thus to lay it on its side can see all birds use it without restrictions.

Jars are not necessarily needed when peanut butter can be scooped out of the jar and spread onto tree bark, branches or buds - which is where birds naturally frequent as they forage.

Similarly, to keep things tidy a specialist peanut butter jar bird feeder can be used which will be mounted to a post or hanging up on a tree branch or off a bracket.

Birds can eat peanut butter but is must remain accessible to as many nut or seed eating birds that wish to feed on it, or else the peanut butter won't be eaten at all.

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