Best Before?

I've always wondered if there was an expiry date to seeds that are still within a shell, and I think I have my answer.

Last year, DW and I didn't go into our backyard as often as we usually do, and I think that it was in part due to shame. As some of you may have followed, in this blog, a section of our backyard fence came down during a wind storm in December of 2021, while DW and I were vacationing in Cuba.

It's a miracle that the rest of the fence wasn't felled in May, during the derecho that hammered Ottawa.

Because the fence fell in the winter, neither our neighbours, into whose backyard the fence fell, nor we were willing to do anything until the snow was gone. But then we got busy, and our neighbours didn't complain for some time. And then it was all but impossible to find people who wanted to work on such a small project, and eventually, in September, DW and I did the work ourselves.

Until the fence was fixed, we avoided the backyard because it reminded us of our ability to put things off. And because we avoided the backyard—I only went into it to mow the lawn or grill something on the barbecue—our bird feeder became another object of neglect.

Previously, I would constantly monitor the feeder, making sure our feathered friends didn't go without seeds. When we first set up the feeder, in 2020, we purchased a giant bag of sunflower seeds. Not wanting chipmunks or squirrels to break into our garage and chew through the bag, we emptied the seeds into a couple of large containers: one, a tin container that we used to fill with dry cat food but replaced with a smaller container when we redid our kitchen; the other, a large covered pail that I had used long ago to make wine.

These containers, together, would hold more than a year's supply of seeds.

Currently, we're on our second bag of seed, which we purchased in late 2021. I only filled the feeder during the winter months, when work on the fence was impossible. But when the snow was gone and the months passed before we fixed the fence, the birds went without seed and had to find it elsewhere (other neighbours also had feeders, so the birds were fine.

As soon as the fence was fixed, I washed out the empty feeder, let it dry, and then replenished it with the seeds that we had bought about a year earlier.

For weeks, birds didn't touch the seeds. DW and I left on our vacation, in Portugal, and when we returned, the level of seeds hadn't noticeably changed.

Had the birds decided to skip our backyard, we wondered. Had they found other backyards with better feeders?

As winter set in, I did notice the odd bird at the feeder, but they didn't seem to stay long. Over the course of the season, the level of seeds did diminish, but ever so slowly. At it's peak, before I stopped replenishing the seeds, the feeder would empty in less than a week.

What was wrong?

We think we found our answer a couple of weekends ago, when we went for a walk at Mud Lake, bringing my parents with us. My folks have a feeder in their backyard and take pleasure at watching the myriad birds visit.

As always, we bring a small bag of seed to feed the chickadees, nuthatches, and smaller woodpeckers like the downys and hairys. Often these birds are so bold that they'll fly right up to you before we get the bag open.

On this visit, we didn't get the instant swarm that we're used to. It took a few minutes for the first bird to land on DW's hand, while I was ready with my camera. The chickadee landed, picked up a seed, and then threw it before seizing another.

It threw that seed, too.

Finally, it grabbed one seed and made its way to the nearest tree branch, where it cracked open the shell and ate the inner seed.

Other birds landed. A nuthatch picked up a seed in its beak and immediately released it. I was able to capture the seed, in mid air, before it landed back on DW's glove. The nuthatch scrutinized every seed until it found one that it wanted, and off it went with its snack.

The same was happening in my mom's ungloved hand, as the birds picked only the best seeds.

Woodpeckers joined in, and one tossed every seed from my mom's hand before flying off without anything. DW emptied more seeds from the bag from her hand, and tried again. The birds returned and only took select seeds for food, discarding the others. One woodpecker even seemingly threw a seed toward my mom, as if to say, "What are you trying to pawn off on me? This is substandard, ma'am!"

Yes, it seems there is an expiry date on seeds. Back in our feeder, in the backyard, I had finally replenished an empty feeder the day before we ventured to Mud Lake. Birds have come, but I've noticed a lot of seeds on the ground, where the squirrels don't seem to be as picky.

We have about a third of the large pail left. I think I'll toss those seeds into the compost bin and grab a fresh bag from Costco.

I'll check for a best-before date, too.