Picky Red Breasted Nuthatch

[mikeschmeee]

I was trying to capture some inflight photos of these little birds but the are very rambunctious, all over the place. I took a break and tried some video again.
As I was watching them, I noticed they are picking through every little bit of seed just to find that right one. Even though a majority of the feed consists of seeds that they prefer.
I've seen with this other birds but not so intensively as these Nuthatches. Interesting behaviour.

 

[Low_Sky]

My nuthatches do it too, but the redpolls are the worst. I'm sure they toss most of the seed they go through out of the feeder. I have a finch feeder with thistle and sunflower kernel pieces for them, but they still prefer to go through the black oil sunflower and reject all the seeds that are too big (most of them).