Strange Blue Tit diet!!??

Hey everyone!

So lately, i have had loads of Blue Tits eating the putty (pollifiller stuff) from around our windows!!!!

Can anyone tell me why???? :/

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alexander Batten-Phelps on August 30, 2010 at 16:05

Hmm not sure why they would be drawn to this stuff, I know that some pellet plant foods and slugpellets can sometimes confuse birds who mistake them for grains or insect eggs; but as for polyfiller (if its the kind I think it is) then I can't quite work out why they would go for it. It might be a visual thing or it could be a taste factor, that some chemical in the polyfiller tastes nice to them. Also they might be after insects that land upon the polyfiller - I know some years I'll have little birds tap at my window as they pluck tiny insects right off the glass.

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Permalink Reply by John Cheney on September 1, 2010 at 21:22

We often get small birds tapping around our windows, I would have thought they were looking for insects, not the putty itself.

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Permalink Reply by Abigail Rhodes on November 27, 2010 at 17:40

Sometimes putty is made using linseed and birds do like eating it.

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Permalink Reply by Marcus on November 28, 2010 at 21:06

How interesting!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Oakes on December 13, 2010 at 19:34

They do hunt spiders around my window frames and under the window ledges. Never seen them eat the putty though. That's a new one. Must be really hungry.

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Permalink Reply by Brigitte Anne Barnes on January 9, 2011 at 13:33

At my last flat we would regularly see tits pecking around the brickwork and window ledges. Never putty though - our putty in our windows was quite ancient though so would not have been very palatable. Also spotted dunnocks doing it, probably insects. They seemed to go for a particular patch by the window ledge, there was a decorative strip of brickwork and they always seemed to like that for some reason.