BUFFET BARS

There are many different themes to buffet bars - chinese, italian, american, salad, sushi, ukrainian, and vegetarian.  In our house we operate one that caters to birds.  We have four feeding stations set up along with two suet cages.  The DH feeds the birds a variety of seeds including niger and black oil  sunflower but the blue jays are spoiled.  The DH puts out about five cups a day of peanuts in the shell.  The blue jays don't come to the buffet bar every day but when they do there can be four of them.

I am sure we are feeding all of the sparrows in the neighbourhood.  They show up once it is daylight and feed throughout the day.   The blue jays pick up the peanuts from the feeder and if they are not breaking open the peanut shell with their beaks and consuming the nuts, they are flying off with a peanut and burying the treasure in someones backyard.  We are wondering what will happen when the secret stash of peanuts gets covered with snow.  How will the birds find the peanuts?  What happens when the snow melts in the spring and the home owner wonders how and where did these peanuts come from that are littering the yard.  The dog has figured out that some of the peanut shells on the ground will occasionally have a nut in them as the blue jay will drop a peanut shell on the ground with parts of a nut still remaining.  The dog is now patrolling the ground around the trees and feeder checking for leftover peanuts.  

The cats do find some entertainment in watching from the kitchen window the birds gathering around the buffet bars.  We will all be watching the birds this winter.